Composing the USNA Summer Seminar Essay

1000 characters is short -- but you can make some good points, too!

The application for the Naval Academy Summer Seminar (NASS) includes a short, personal statement of 1000 characters or less. It has been consistent over the last five years and states . . .

Please answer the following questions briefly:

• Why are you interested in attending the Naval Academy Summer Seminar?

• Have you been involved in any STEM-related activities, groups, or conferences?

• Please elaborate on any extracurricular activities in which you have participated.

As you think about formulating your response, consider your motivations and your pertinent experiences that you would like to share. I recommend responding to each of the prompts. Take your time to draft a good response, and revisit it a few times to tighten up the grammar and to make your sentences concise.

I also suggest drafting your essay 'outside' the application using a word processor, like Google Docs or Microsoft Word. Both include a word count tool. Just be sure to use the 'count with spaces' option! And remember, 1000 characters is about 200 words.

Let's discuss your approach and some suggestions of how to address each of the three prompts.

"Why are you interested . . .?"

For the majority of students, you are applying to NASS because you are interested in attending the Naval Academy. I recommend you state that fact. Plus, add a statement about your motivations and your goal to become a Naval or Marine officer. Many students will be interested in more than one service academy (SA), so you may use the term "military officer," but I recommend focusing on the Navy and Marines. USNA recognizes that lots of candidates will apply to mulitple schools and SAs.

Your response may include pursuing a STEM degree at USNA if any of the topics, such as engineering, math, science or other technical degrees, interest you. If not, then you might avoid noting that you will likely pursue a management or history degree at USNA. By the way, there is absolutely nothing wrong with these academic pursuits, but the NASS prompts include STEM, not history or literary arts!

For example, you might write the following:

I have been fascinated by submarines since I was 8 years old when I toured the USS Drum. I desire to serve as a Naval submariner and hope to attend the Naval Academy Summer Seminar to learn more about the Academy and the paths available to me to fulfill this career goal. I am very interested in pursuing a physics degree.

After addressing the first prompt, I suggest starting a new paragraph to address the second one.

"Have you been involved in any STEM-related . . .?"

For this prompt, think about the spectrum of your activities in the past. These may include attending STEM camps, earning science-related Scouting merit badges, being part of a school math or science club, learning to fly, or pursuing STEM-related hobbies, like astronomy. You may simply state that you enjoy mathematics and have always done well in the subject. Stating your involvement in a recent school assignment, such as physics or chemistry class, where you enjoyed learning some new principles is appropriate as an addition to your essay. Ideally, you can point to some aspects of STEM involvement. Here is an example:

I am a good math student and enjoy learning the different tools in my geometry class. One of my most interesting assignments was creating a structure and defining the angles used in all portions of the design. I was awarded an A+ for my work.

If your STEM experiences are fairly modest, then you will have more space to elaborate on your different extracurricular activities (ECAs).

"Please elaborate on any . . ."

Your NASS application requires a separate listing of your sports and other ECAs. Ideally, this list will cover all of your activities. If so, then I recommend using this section of your statement to describe your impact in some of your most consequential ECAs. I advise my students not to list their ECAs in the essay as they are included in the previous section. Instead, do your best to provide concrete examples.

For instance, you might list that you are an officer of a school club or a co-captain of one of your sports teams in the activities section. Then, use the personal statement to describe what you 'do' in this position. If you have enough 'characters,' then include two or three of these descriptions. Here is an example:

As vice-president of our Beta Club, I work with the other staff to organize our bi-weekly meetings. Our last meeting was focused on planning our participation in our school's upcoming Spring Festival. I will be leading the activity as VP, including scheduling our booth manning, working with our members to design the booth and building the booth prior to the festival opening. We hope to win the best design again this year!

As I noted at the beginning of this article, you should draft the essay and then work on improving the draft. Ideally, you will take a week or so to complete your work. Your NASS application submission serves as your Pre-Candidate Questionnaire so you will be one step closer to applying to the Naval Academy.

In summary, my example NASS essay reads . . .

I have been fascinated by submarines since I was 8 years old when I toured the USS Drum. I desire to serve as a Naval submariner and hope to attend the Naval Academy Summer Seminar to learn more about the Academy and the paths available to me to fulfill this career goal. I am very interested in pursuing a physics degree.

I am a good math student and enjoy learning the different tools in my geometry class. One of my most interesting assignments was creating a structure and defining the angles used in all portions of the design. I was awarded an A+ for my work.

As vice-president of our Beta Club, I work with the other staff to organize our bi-weekly meetings. Our last meeting was focused on planning our participation in our school's upcoming Spring Festival. I will be leading the activity as VP, including scheduling our booth manning, working with our members to design the booth and building the booth prior to the festival opening. We hope to win the best design again this year!

This personal statement is 989 characters long. Just 11 characters shy of the 1000 character limit. The NASS essay is very short, indeed! Thus, the key is to make the most out of the space that you have.

Cover the prompts by describing your interest in attending, providing concrete details of your STEM experience, and then, presenting added information describing your impact in one or two of your ECAs. With your application submission prior to March 31, hopefully you will be selected to attend the Naval Academy Summer Seminar . . . good writing and good luck!

[ I would welcome a chance to discuss details with you. I offer coaching services to pace and prepare you (and your parents!) for the entire Academy application process -- including assisting students with their NASS essay! Contact me at chris@cbbrechin.com, 503.515.7406 or complete my contact form on the home page. ]