What are my chances?

JohnUSAFA

USAFA 2015 Appointee
5-Year Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2010
Messages
90
Hello everyone,

I am a candidate for the c/o 2015 at USAFA and I was wondering how qualified I am

SAT:
700 M
680 CR
590 W
(Just took the test again, awaiting scores)

ACT:
32 M
32 W
34 S
26 R
(Plan to retake)

GPA:
Unweighted: 3.6
Weighted: 5.2
top 3% of class

Have taken all honors/AP courses
APs completed: Bio (4) Cal AB (4) English Comp (3) US history (3) Us Human Geo (4)

APs taking this year:Chem, Cal BC, US Gov, Macro Econ, English Lit


Extra Curriculars:
Youth Advisory Board (youth of the city meet with city council members to discuss issues/ do community service) member since 5th grade, current secretary

3 years of work experience

NHS member

FIRST robotics member since 9th grade, current president
Mu Alpha Theta President

Did Duke TIP for 4 years

No varsity letters, but I joined my school's track team and the raiders team with the JROTC in order to get in better shape for BCT


Attended the Summer Seminar

Talked to congressman, said I'm guaranteed nomination once I turn in my application


I planned on taking my CFA in a few weeks, I might extend that though because I feel I can get my scores up alot higher

Thanks in advance
 
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As it has been said many times, nobody can give you a :thumb: or :thumbdown:

Do you look good on paper? Yes, but we also don't know how you rack and stack for that MOC. An MOC slate is typically 10 candidates for 1 apptmt. You could get the nom, but not the apptmt and then be put on the NWL which means it is you against candidates against the nation.

I would re-take the ACT because that V is really pulling down your composite.

Be aware that they will re-weight your wgpa because being a 5.2, means you are probably on a 6.0 scale, and for many schools, that is incredibly high regarding the weight issue. For our school district 4.5 is the w for AP.

Overall, you look very good, SLS def. helps because by attending you were already on their radar. It is a good EC.

Good luck. I know that like others you want a bit of hope or reassurance, but like the others before you, you will come to realize that this is a roller coaster ride and all you can do is go with it.
 
PIMA is right. On paper - sure, you're in. In reality... there are thousands more just like you dying to get in. Retake the ACT, for sure.

I would be nervous about my MOC saying you definitely had the nom at this point. From all I've heard on this site, this seems like on of those things MOC's just "say." Don't count on anything.

Still, I wouldn't be discouraged. Where are you from and what's your local competition?
 
District 17 in Florida

From what I've been told I don't have much competition and if what I've been told is true, we haven't sent a cadet to USAFA in years.
 
That is very hard to believe. Every MOC is charged up to 5 cadets for each SA. I just can't believe that the MOC has not submitted a slate in yrs. Now, maybe nobody from your school hasn't gone in yrs, but that is not the same as the district.

That district has @639K constituents, I am willing to bet he has submitted a full slate every yr. Even if only 2% of his constituency is school kids (they are included in the count for population), That would be @13K students. 2% is a very very low number, usually it is @ 10-20%.

There is a difference between you school district and his congressional district.

FL is one of the competitive states it is not like AK or So Dakota. It actually falls in with CA, TX, CO, VA, NY.

Getting the nom is only one part of the equation. Winning the nom is a totally different story. Do you know how he racks and stacks? Principal or Competitive? Principal means if the candidate is 3Q the AFA must appt the candidate. Competitive means that all 3q candidates will receive a WCS and whoever has the highest WCS wins the apptmt.

The one thing you are really lacking is athletics. This will hurt you because the AFA is really concerned about fitness due to the high altitude. You need to show to them through your CFA (maxing it out) that you are physically fit. It also hurts from the WCS position because you will not be getting high points in this portion since you have no athletics. The reason it is called WCS is because the AFA wants the Whole package, not just the academic package.

You really do have a strong package, but you have some weaknesses,,,again that 26 is not good, because according to the AFA if you have a 24 V or below you are not deemed competitive. You beat that number, but you are below the avg. Re-take it.

Unless you have a personal connection with the congressman and he is telling you he will give you a principal, I would actually talk to your ALO and ask how you stack up against the other candidates that are assigned to him/her. Your ALO will be writing a rec for you regarding your packet and for everyone else he is advising. There is a big difference between being the TOP PICK and being ONE OF THE TOP PICKS.

Also ask your ALO if there has been one of his candidates that has received a nom in the past few yrs. For example, our DS's ALO had about 10 cadets, but he only served one county, the MOC had many counties in his district. Our DS was his only candidate that received not only 1, but all 3. His other candidates did not receive a nom. Yet, the MOC did not submit a slate of 1, he sent a slate of 10. Again...just because the school district didn't get one, doesn't mean no slate was submitted by the MOC.


I wish you the best of luck, and hope you realize that you have some fallacies in the nom process.
 
That is very hard to believe. Every MOC is charged up to 5 cadets for each SA. I just can't believe that the MOC has not submitted a slate in yrs. Now, maybe nobody from your school hasn't gone in yrs, but that is not the same as the district.

Believe it. It is 100% true. Just yesterday at our Admissions Field Force meeting with our regional commander from USMA, he lamented the fact that some kids live in districts where MOCs literally do not nominate anyone. They do their best to set the outstanding prospects from those districts up with VP nominations, but it doesn't always work out.

MOCs who don't nominate certainly do exist.
 
They do their best to set the outstanding prospects from those districts up with VP nominations, but it doesn't always work out.

Confused here. Why would they not give a nom, but put tell them to go VP? What is their criteria for outstanding? Or are you saying that USMA are the ones telling the candidates to go the VP route because the MOC is not nominating?

Not trying to be facetious, just trying to grasp why the MOC would not give a nom to an outstanding prospect.

Additionally, I do know that sometimes they don't nom, but again, District 17 has a population of 640K people which is why for this posters case I find it hard to believe, that with the size of this district the MOC has not nominated anyone in yrs.

I know that there are MOC's who will not nom if they feel the candidate doesn't have the academic background to succeed at an SA. However, that is a rarity, and not the norm. I also think as a tax payer, that the MOC has an obligation to the constituency they serve. I get if they are not meeting the mins to be a 3Q not nominating the candidate. I just can't believe that every applicant applying doesn't meet the mins.

Again, not saying it doesn't happen, it is just mind boggling to me...afterall, if they are saying the candidate in their district is not up to par academically, than maybe that MOC should spend more time fighting for a better national education system than bailing out the auto industry. Frightening to think that an MOC doesn't believe their constituents aren't worthy of an IVY league education.


It is a very sad statement to say a population of 640K people can not find a candidate for multiple yrs worthy of a nom. FL is a competitive state because not only the size of the population compared to IDAHO, but the fact that we have a lot of military bases and retirees, which if you look at the really competitive states, they all have a military influence.
 
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Or are you saying that USMA are the ones telling the candidates to go the VP route because the MOC is not nominating?

Yes, that's what I'm saying. The Presidential and VP nominations involve a lot of influence from SecArmy (administers the presidential program) and the USMA SUPT office (input for VP). When admissions is faced with an outstanding candidate who lives in a district where the MOC does not nominate anyone, admissions will steer the candidate toward the VP route.
 
Yes, that's what I'm saying. The Presidential and VP nominations involve a lot of influence from SecArmy (administers the presidential program) and the USMA SUPT office (input for VP). When admissions is faced with an outstanding candidate who lives in a district where the MOC does not nominate anyone, admissions will steer the candidate toward the VP route.

Can I assume that it's just the one district representative we're talking about. Obviously not the 2 senators. Can't imagine an entire state with no senators nominating. Reason I bring this up is because while it won't really help this individual, if I lived in that district, I'd be calling the rep's office and inquiring why s/he isn't providing nominations. If I got the runaround, I'd be contacting the newspapers, local tv stations, emails to the rep with a CC copy to the chairman of the arm forces committee. I would put this representative on the hot seat. You have absolutely nothing to lose. And maybe you help out future applicants. And I would definitely go out of my way to "AFFECT" their re-election chances. I'd be speaking DIRECTLY with their competition from all parties. Let them bring this up in their commercials, debates, etc...
 
Can I assume that it's just the one district representative we're talking about. Obviously not the 2 senators. Can't imagine an entire state with no senators nominating. Reason I bring this up is because while it won't really help this individual, if I lived in that district, I'd be calling the rep's office and inquiring why s/he isn't providing nominations. If I got the runaround, I'd be contacting the newspapers, local tv stations, emails to the rep with a CC copy to the chairman of the arm forces committee. I would put this representative on the hot seat. You have absolutely nothing to lose. And maybe you help out future applicants. And I would definitely go out of my way to "AFFECT" their re-election chances. I'd be speaking DIRECTLY with their competition from all parties. Let them bring this up in their commercials, debates, etc...

Yes, these are individual reps in question, not senators.
 
I agree with CC on this issue. For any MOC not to nom at least one applicant is a failure to their constituents.

As I stated earlier for an MOC to believe that not one applicant in a district with over 1/2 million people is worthy of a nom, is disconcerting from a taxpayer POV. The MOC is flat out stating that no candidate has received a strong enough of an education to be worthy.

Now this is where I kind of part ways with CC. I would be contacting the media, but I would be doing it from an educational issue within the district. I would put the MOC's feet to the fire why they have such little faith in the quality of students from an academic standpoint. I would make them acknowledge why they are not nominating constituents. If it is academic, than he has a lot of splaining to do to taxpayers why he has not fought harder for this issue from a national standpoint. Obviously, he believes his district is failing from an educational standpoint, so now he needs to defend how he is going to fix it.

I also would love to see if there are any candidates at the AFA who are from District 17, that won the apptmt for the Sen slate. If so, I would be incredibly ticked at the Congressman for not putting up a slate. Obviously from a Senate slate, it is the whole state, not one district and the AFA decided that the District 17 candidate was the best out of the entire state. IMHPO there is no way a congressman can say that nobody on their slate was worthy to nom, but the AFA with their WCS appointed them using the Senate slate.

I don't know if this is sad, disgusting, or just out and out insane.
 
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