Being a high school senior, the question I received the most: “Where are you going to college next year?” My response always gave excitement or confusion. Saying you are going to West Point means at times, some people don’t know what to say. The application process was daunting, almost impossible standards to achieve admissions when I first started the application. A school with a 10% acceptance rate seems like almost impossible work. However, for those who have determination and drive, here are some tips and tricks that helped streamline my application process and “finish the marathon”.

First and foremost, let’s go over the required parts of the application:

1.     Completed application with personal/academic information and 3 personal essays

2.     Completed Candidate Fitness Assessment (CFA)

3.     Medically Cleared via DoDMERB agency

4.     Nominations from Congressman, Senators, Vice-President, or Special Nominators

Instead of trying to focus on the application as a whole, we should break this application into those 4 pillars to help ease the workload, focusing on each pillar/task until the entire application is done.

The first pillar which is the academic portion is similar to a standard college application. We must fill out personal, financial, family, academic, and extracurricular information. In addition, applicants are required to write 3 essays regarding several topics from overcoming adversity to addressing diversity to ultimately the real motivation for wanting to attend the Academy. In this portion, West Point is looking for excellence in three major categories: Academics, Athletics, and Leadership. For academics, the Academy is looking for applicants near the top of their graduating class with very high SAT scores, averaging 1400+. For Athletics and Leadership, it is very advantageous to be team captains, as well as participating in activities that showcase strong leadership potential such as starting your own initiatives/charities for a good cause.

The second pillar concerns the Candidate Fitness Test (CFA). It is different than the standard Army Fitness Test (ACFT), but it is necessary to train specifically for the CFA to earn a passing and exemplary score. It consists of 6 events in order: a basketball throw, pull-ups, a 40-yard shuttle run, sit-ups, push-ups, and a final 1-mile run. These events are all performed in succession with little breaks in between each event. So the best way of viewing this test is one of endurance rather than true physical strength or cardio ability. An applicant can’t go 100% in the beginning, otherwise risk burnout at the 1-mile run or push-ups or another event. Instead, it is necessary to ration energy for each event and try to do as much as possible while not burning out any energy reserves until the final event.

The third pillar is the DoDMERB medical exam. This is just a standard physical exam that you get at the doctor, but instead it needs to be performed by a specific DoDMERB-contracted doctor that can fill out a very lengthy form. The best advice is to complete whatever components of the application beforehand as early as possible so you can book an early appointment. As the application process continues, it will be harder to obtain a sooner appointment date.

The fourth and final pillar is the Nominations. These seem very daunting, but when prepared well and knowing where to look it will be easier to approach. First of all, the nominations that are available to all applicants are the Congressional Nominations from your Congressional District, 2 from each of your US Senators, and a possible nomination from the Vice President. There are other types of nominations called Service-Connected nominations, but are only available to applicants that meet a certain requirement. The Congressional nominations applications can be found on the website of your local Congressman and Senator’s website. These require a separate application specific to their process and need to be done concurrently to the Academy’s application. After submitting an application, which is similar to the Academy application including academics and essays, you will be invited to a formal interview with not the Congressman/Senator, but former Academy graduates and/or leaders in the community that will gauge your ability to lead and your character. The questions are similar to ones of a job interview and should take no longer than 10 to 15 minutes.

With all these in mind, thinking about each component step-by-step, it lightens the mental load of thinking about the huge beast of an application.