Follow me p1 - Military Career Advancement - Military Times Edge

Tyler Gordy’s grades in high school were so bad even now he doesn’t want to say what his grade-point average was. Suffice it to say it was bad enough to generate a firm “Thanks, but no thanks” when, just back from a tour in Iraq, he applied to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The rejection wasn’t yet official, but Gordy figured that was it. A sergeant in the 101st Airborne Division at the time, “I had given up,” Gordy said. “They had said, ‘I don’t care who calls, he’s not getting into West Point.’” Famous last words.

These days, Gordy is settling into his new room as the academy’s first captain, the top student leadership post at the school, responsible for West Point’s 4,000-strong Corps of Cadets. Outside his door is a plaque bearing the hand-scrawled names of those who have come before him — John J. Pershing, Douglas MacArthur and William Westmoreland among them. His GPA: 3.6 — among the top 5 percent of his class.

Encouragement

Gordy knew he wanted to go to a good college when his enlistment was up, but he hadn’t really considered West Point as an option until one day in Iraq, when his battalion commander pulled him aside.

“He told me there are doors both in and out of the Army that will never be open to him because he didn’t graduate from West Point. It was his one big regret. That was a profound statement to me.” It was profound in other ways, too. His battalion commander was offering the encouragement because he thought Gordy had a shot.

“There were people like him who just believed in me, and because they believed in me, I believed in me.”

Respect

When he decided to apply, Gordy gathered letters of recommendation from every link in his chain of command, from his squad leader up to his division commander. And those weren’t gimmies. He’d earned his leadership’s respect as a sniper — both on the battlefield and in top-level and Army-wide competitions — as well as contending for the division soldier of the quarter award.

Networking

Just like civilian applicants, enlisted academy hopefuls need a nomination. While technically this comes in the form of a commander’s endorsement, soldiers are encouraged to obtain a nomination from one of their congressional delegates as well.

Gordy used a trip to Washington, D.C., while attending the Association of the United States Army annual meeting, to swing by and see his congressman. “By the time I walked out, he said, ‘I’ll support you any way I can,’” Gordy said.

Improvement

The academies place a lot of weight on standardized tests. With subpar high school grades, Gordy knew test scores would be even more important, so he did everything he could to improve his ACT score. Between working through every workbook he could get his hands on, taking every prep course available along with a semester’s-worth of classes from a local community college, he upped his score by an impressive six points.

Persistence

During the four-month-long application process, Gordy kept in close touch with his enlisted admissions adviser at West Point. And so did his many supporters.

“My battalion and brigade commander and battalion sergeant major all made regular phone calls for me.” Ostensibly, they were just checking on his packet, but they made a point to sing Gordy’s praises to anyone in admissions who would listen. When things were looking dicey, even his congressman got on the horn to plead his case. “I simply would not have gotten in without their support,” Gordy said.

Preparation

Like many enlisted applicants, Gordy wasn’t given a direct slot into the academy, but instead got a one-year ticket to West Point’s prep school at Fort Monmouth, N.J.

“The semester of community college set me up for success at the prep school. I had really needed to start back at the very basics of math and writing, so I was able to build from there,” he says. “Without the prep school, I would I have failed out.”

As he begins his senior year, Gordy is a contender for a Fulbright Scholarship, but otherwise hopes to rejoin the infantry.

“That’s where I’m supposed to be,” he says. “There’s no reason to receive this world-class education and not go back to Iraq or Afghanistan and give back.”

_________________________________

Related reading: Enlisted spots go unfilled

_________________________________

Getting in

Requirements for service academies are the same. You must be:

• A U.S. citizen.

• Of “good moral character.”

• Unmarried.

• Not pregnant.

• At least 17 and not older than 23 (25 for the Merchant Marine Academy) on July 1 of the year you would enter the academy.

School-specific details:

• U.S. Military Academy at West Point

West Point, N.Y.

Application due: Feb. 28

Enlisted slots: 170 — 85 for active duty and 85 for Guard or reserve members from any military service.

www.admissions.usma.edu

• U.S. Naval Academy

Annapolis, Md.

Application due: March 1

Enlisted slots: 170 for active-duty and reserve Navy and Marine Corps personnel

www.usna.edu/Admissions/steps.htm

• U.S. Air Force Academy

Colorado Springs, Colo.

Application due: Jan. 31

Enlisted slots: 170 — 85 for active-duty Air Force and 85 for Air Force reservists

www.academyadmissions.com/

• U.S. Coast Guard Academy

New London, Conn.

Application due: Feb. 1

No dedicated enlisted slots

www.admissions.uscga.edu

• U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

Kings Point, N.Y.

Application due: March 1

No dedicated enlisted slots

www.usmma.edu/admissions/default.htm

_________________________________

Academy prep schools

If you’ve been out of school awhile, the idea of going to one of the nation’s premier universities may feel a bit daunting. And it should, especially if your grades were never that hot.

But there’s a leg up if you’re interested in any of the five U.S. service academies, which each offer a one-year prep school to help ease the transition back into academic life. And while you have to pay tuition for the Coast Guard and Merchant Marine prep schools, the three military academy prep schools are fully paid for both civilian and enlisted hopefuls. In fact, for those already on active duty, you get paid to attend because you still collect your base pay at whatever rank you are, school officials say.

Enlisted members who apply to the academies and are not selected for direct entry are automatically considered for entrance into prep schools. With an age cap for entrance to the academies, those going into the prep schools must not have passed their 22nd birthday by July 1 of the year that they’ll start classes at the prep school.

While graduation from a prep school does not guarantee an appointment to the academies, generally if your grades are good and you haven’t gotten in trouble, you’ll get a slot.

Even better, prep school graduates can get a serious performance boost once they’ve reached an academy. Maj. Brian Easley, who coordinates enlisted admissions to West Point, said troops “who choose to complete our prep-school program graduate at a higher rate than their civilian counterparts.”

• U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School, Fort Monmouth, N.J., www.usma.edu/USMAPS/

• Naval Academy Preparatory School, Naval Station Newport R.I., www.usna.edu/NAPS/

• Air Force Academy Preparatory School, Colorado Springs, Colo., www.usafa.af.mil/?catname=Prep+School

• The Coast Guard outsources its preparatory school to the New Mexico Military Institute, N.M., and Marion Military Institute, Ala., www.nmmi.edu and www.marionmilitary.edu

• The Merchant Marine Academy also outsources its prep school to the New Mexico Military Institute, N.M., www.nmmi.edu