USAFA Prep School

polevault7

5-Year Member
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Mar 8, 2011
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Can someone explain the admissions process for the USAFA prep school? I have heard of denied USAFA candidates who have also not received a prep school appointment because they were "overqualified". Also does anyone know when the admissions board releases their prep school appointments and how many USAFA applicants/candidates they take?
 
Can someone explain the admissions process for the USAFA prep school? I have heard of denied USAFA candidates who have also not received a prep school appointment because they were "overqualified". Also does anyone know when the admissions board releases their prep school appointments and how many USAFA applicants/candidates they take?
Hi Polevault7: You might want to contact the moderator flieger83 on this. My understanding is that the prep school is for folks who are strong candidates but are lagging in academics. There is about 240 candidates in prep school at any given time and about 80% of these preppies will earn an appointment. For candidates who are too qualified for the Air Force Prep school, but not competitive enough to be appointed, approximately 100 of these candidates will be offered an opportunity to be a Falcon Scholar. These candidates will then spend a year in one of 5 prep schools accross the country polishing their academic credentials. My understanding is the most if not all Falcon Scholars are offered an appointment if they complete all of the requirements of the program. The timing of these options are sometime after the main body of appointments are offered. Middle of April - May would be my guess. If you look on the threads, people typically get the TWE and within a couple of days might be offered the prep option. Hope this answers your questions. Good Luck!
 
Hi!

FF is pretty close to dead on.

The USAFA Prep School...around 215-230 or so slots a year...it can fluctuate, but that's pretty close; 240 is the maximum if my memory is correct.

Approximately 75 slots are "reserved" for currently serving airmen in the USAF. These slots are typically not filled completely so there is some "excess" passed to the regular class.

The regular class?

Here's where it gets a bit...convoluted. While you can read on the website and wikipedia all about the PS, I'm going to be honest and straight forward about it.

The AF uses the prep school for a number of purposes. First: the airmen selected from the "force" in the field. They are priority number 1. And rightfully so.

Then...there are those candidates that are "oh so close" to appointment directly but are missing "something." Its usually an SAT score...or ACT...they're "that close BUT..." And they'll be offered a PS slot.

The students selected for those positions will typically come from a majority of the "minority" groups in the USA. These would be "priority number 2" in my opinion.

Then...recruited athletes. Yes, USAFA like all the academies, recruits athletes. And unfortunately a lot of the time, the "most sought after" athletes do NOT have the academics to allow them to be directly admitted to USAFA so they'll be sent to the prep school to prepare them for USAFA. They are "priority number 3" in my opinion. Others think they're priority number 2. Its "a hot spot" with many.

After that? It's whoever USAFA decides they want, to fill out the class.

FALCON FOUNDATION.

This is an entirely different thing. The number per year varies but I suppose 100 is pretty close. These students are selected by USAFA with the "concurrence" of the FF...they're offered "partial" scholarships to several schools in the USA to better prepare them for re-applying for admission to USAFA.

HINT: If someone were to offer you a few thousand dollars to go to a prep school, do you think you might have a BETTER chance of appointment the next time around???

The programs vary and have different financial costs, etc. I'm most familiar with Northwestern Preparatory School.

That's the "long winded" version of what FF said.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
Northwestern Prep '78/'79
 
Thank you this is very helpful information. My daughter has applied to the USAFA and she was told she is a good candidate except for her SAT scores. Which have improved every time she takes it but it may not be high enough yet. It is now March 20, 2011 and we have not heard from the USAFA. Does this mean she did not get the appointment? Did they pick all their appointments yet? She was told she should hear something mid March and now we have passed that date. I was also told there are some delays r/t the cuts. I was just curious when would she know if she was invited to attend the prep school. She (as I am sure many) is determined to go to the USAFA, so even if she has to do a year of college in GA she will re-apply next year. It would just be so nice to know where we stand, USAFA, Prep school, or community college. I have not done anything for her up till this point but I hate seeing her walking anxiously to the mailbox everyday.
Thanks again for all the great information posted.
A (still) hopeful mom.
 
Thank you this is very helpful information. My daughter has applied to the USAFA and she was told she is a good candidate except for her SAT scores. Which have improved every time she takes it but it may not be high enough yet. It is now March 20, 2011 and we have not heard from the USAFA. Does this mean she did not get the appointment? Did they pick all their appointments yet? She was told she should hear something mid March and now we have passed that date. I was also told there are some delays r/t the cuts. I was just curious when would she know if she was invited to attend the prep school. She (as I am sure many) is determined to go to the USAFA, so even if she has to do a year of college in GA she will re-apply next year. It would just be so nice to know where we stand, USAFA, Prep school, or community college. I have not done anything for her up till this point but I hate seeing her walking anxiously to the mailbox everyday.
Thanks again for all the great information posted.
A (still) hopeful mom.
No matter what happens, I think another year of maturity can be a good thing. My DS will still be 17 when he graduates high school and my personal take on this is that most teens could use another year or so of seasoning before they go whole-in to the academy life. Best of luck to you, but remember that things happen for a reason!
 
Thank you this is very helpful information. My daughter has applied to the USAFA and she was told she is a good candidate except for her SAT scores. Which have improved every time she takes it but it may not be high enough yet. It is now March 20, 2011 and we have not heard from the USAFA. Does this mean she did not get the appointment? Did they pick all their appointments yet? She was told she should hear something mid March and now we have passed that date. I was also told there are some delays r/t the cuts. I was just curious when would she know if she was invited to attend the prep school. She (as I am sure many) is determined to go to the USAFA, so even if she has to do a year of college in GA she will re-apply next year. It would just be so nice to know where we stand, USAFA, Prep school, or community college. I have not done anything for her up till this point but I hate seeing her walking anxiously to the mailbox everyday.
Thanks again for all the great information posted.
A (still) hopeful mom.
The last time I spoke with folks at USAFA/RRS (the selections folks) was early last week and they said they were NOT complete with the selection process. They "hoped" it would all be done by the last of the month and then folks would know their statuses in the first week of April...

IF ALL WENT ACCORDING TO THEIR (USAFA/RRS) DESIRES!

So...the wait continues.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
So true. Another year wouldn't hurt at all, however it would be awesome if that year could be at prep school so she can really get focused education on what she wants to accomplish. It is not clear to me though when the invitations for the prep school are sent out.
Congratulations out to you and your son. I noticed on the other thread your son received an appointment.
 
The last time I spoke with folks at USAFA/RRS (the selections folks) was early last week and they said they were NOT complete with the selection process. They "hoped" it would all be done by the last of the month and then folks would know their statuses in the first week of April...

IF ALL WENT ACCORDING TO THEIR (USAFA/RRS) DESIRES!

So...the wait continues.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
Thank you so much. I really appreciate you giving us this information. We don't mind waiting a longer but we thought we had missed the boat completely. Thanks again for re-newed hope.
 
So true. Another year wouldn't hurt at all, however it would be awesome if that year could be at prep school so she can really get focused education on what she wants to accomplish. It is not clear to me though when the invitations for the prep school are sent out.
Congratulations out to you and your son. I noticed on the other thread your son received an appointment.
Check some of the threads, the story I keep hearing is that people get the TWE and shortly afterwards (within a couple of days) get the prep or Falcon Scholar offer. Another interesting thought, if you call some of the prep schools, they will tell you that some of the kids are self sponsored. That means that they do not have an inside track like a Falcon Scholar, but if they meet all of the requirements of the Falcon Scholars, they should be viewed as very competitive by the academy.

As for us, we're in the same boat as you are - waiting on an appointment. There are lots of Falcon(fill in the blank)'s around here, so it is an easy mistake. I'll keep my fingers crossed for both of us! :D
 
Check some of the threads, the story I keep hearing is that people get the TWE and shortly afterwards (within a couple of days) get the prep or Falcon Scholar offer. Another interesting thought, if you call some of the prep schools, they will tell you that some of the kids are self sponsored. That means that they do not have an inside track like a Falcon Scholar, but if they meet all of the requirements of the Falcon Scholars, they should be viewed as very competitive by the academy.

As for us, we're in the same boat as you are - waiting on an appointment. There are lots of Falcon(fill in the blank)'s around here, so it is an easy mistake. I'll keep my fingers crossed for both of us! :D
Oh I am so sorry. Really appreciate all the info. Thanks a lot. Yeah me to, I will keep praying.
 
thanks for all the great information!

I know that the incoming class size has been reduced this year but does anyone know roughly how many appointments they will offer this year?

haha still hoping for one! :thumb:
 
From a previous post by Aglages :

"The Air Force Academy Cadet Wing's end strength will decrease from approximately 4,500 cadets to 4,000 cadets by Oct. 1, 2012. The Academy will accomplish the reduction by reducing class size to 1,120 for the Class of 2015 and 1,050 for the Class of 2016. Beginning with the Class of 2017, the Academy will admit approximately 1,165 cadets in each class. In addition, normal attrition from the Academy will aid in bringing the cadet end strength to 4,000."
http://www.usafa.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123240940
 
I know that the incoming class size has been reduced this year but does anyone know roughly how many appointments they will offer this year?
Obviously they will need to offer more appointments than 1120 to allow for those appointees that choose not to attend. Yes - while hard to believe it happens. Some actually accept and then don't show up for I-Day!:eek:

The numbers I've heard in the past were about 1600 appointment offers to form a class of about 1300. Clearly it seems as though the USAFA is being more cautious this year with how/when they extend appointment offers in order not to exceed the 1120 number. If the percentages stay the same as in the previous example (81.25% yield), then I think they will need to offer "roughly" 1380 appointments to yield a class size of about 1120.
Good luck!
 
My daughter received her prep school offer in early to mid May. She saw it on her profile and received the mailing notice a week or so later (we did call to verify the profile change). She was not a recruited athlete or part of the diversity group.
 
I was given my prep school offer on 13 January in person at the academy. Was completely unexpected to be honest. Did a visitation program. Didn't see the status change in the portal until mid to late Febuary.
 
My daughter received her prep school offer in early to mid May. She saw it on her profile and received the mailing notice a week or so later (we did call to verify the profile change). She was not a recruited athlete or part of the diversity group.
Do you know by chance what she needed from the prep school to qualify for the USAFA? My daughter's SAT is low but we are not a minority, so not sure what that might mean for her. The rest of her package is pretty competitive. Were there a lot like her or were most of them minority? I just told her that her chances are much better for prep school because I read flieger's priority about the SAT scores but I missed the fact that he said that they will be mostly minorities :-(
thanks
 
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