Need suggestions on what is missing as I prepare to apply

Daretodream

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I am a junior at high school in Arkansas. I have dreamed and worked on gaining admission to the USAFA since the 7th grade. I have attended Academy Days each year offered by either the school or a local Congressman. I have taken the ACT three times since my 8th grade year improving each time. I have a Superscore of 32. My GPA is right at a 4.0 and I have taken several AP courses as a freshman and sophmore including AP Calculus, AP Human Geography and AP World History. I have scored a 4 or 5 on each AP exam and am classified as an AP Scholar. I am currently enrolled in AP Spanish, AP Physics, IB Calculus and AP English. I will graduate with 3 years of French and Spanish. I am a letterman on the school's tennis team. I rank in the top 10% of a class of more than a 1000 students.

Outside of school I am active in the Civil Air Patrol cadet program. I gained my life-saving certification and worked over the summer as a life guard for my city pool. I also work during school as a soccer referee. I was nominated and am working through a major company on a leadership initiative on inclusion at my school. I have participated and scored well for two years in the Cyber Patriot competition and was awarded a $1000 scholarship last year by the Women in Aviation to work towards my pilot's license.

As I prepare to apply, what advice can you give or what is missing that I should work on to improve my application. Thanks.
 
I am a junior at high school in Arkansas. I have dreamed and worked on gaining admission to the USAFA since the 7th grade. I have attended Academy Days each year offered by either the school or a local Congressman. I have taken the ACT three times since my 8th grade year improving each time. I have a Superscore of 32. My GPA is right at a 4.0 and I have taken several AP courses as a freshman and sophmore including AP Calculus, AP Human Geography and AP World History. I have scored a 4 or 5 on each AP exam and am classified as an AP Scholar. I am currently enrolled in AP Spanish, AP Physics, IB Calculus and AP English. I will graduate with 3 years of French and Spanish. I am a letterman on the school's tennis team. I rank in the top 10% of a class of more than a 1000 students.

Outside of school I am active in the Civil Air Patrol cadet program. I gained my life-saving certification and worked over the summer as a life guard for my city pool. I also work during school as a soccer referee. I was nominated and am working through a major company on a leadership initiative on inclusion at my school. I have participated and scored well for two years in the Cyber Patriot competition and was awarded a $1000 scholarship last year by the Women in Aviation to work towards my pilot's license.

As I prepare to apply, what advice can you give or what is missing that I should work on to improve my application. Thanks.
You look pretty good to me (though I'm not the one to impress!) I would add some community service to your resume, though.

-- Proud Mom to USAFA 2018 cadet
 
I’ll let others who have been doing this a while comment on the improving the application part. But I will make these comments.

1. You've attended your local Academy Days so I’m sure you understand the process for applying to an SA. Start looking into the ROTC application process and prepare for that as well. You’ll need a Plan B if you don’t get accepted to an Academy. To quote one of the long term Gurus here “The goal is becoming a great officer not attending an Academy”. Come up with a Plan C if both of those don’t come through.

2. Get a copy of CFA and start practicing now. Your goal isn't average your goal is max in every category. If you settle for average that’s the score you will get. Take the test cold and get your base numbers see which ones you're weakest in and talk to a coach or a trainer on what work outs you can do to improve. Wait a month or tow and take the test again and rinse and repeat. I think it was PIMA that had her DS put a pull up bar in the doorway to his room and made him do pull ups everytime he left and came back. Do that and you won't have issues with the pull up! Then again I don't think PIMA's son ever left his room :yllol: Just kidding PIMA!! I couldn't pass up the joke.

3. YOU need to look at YOUR app and see what MORE you can do. Like can you do more volunteer hours or another sport in the tennis off season? Only you can determine for yourself what more you can do. The only thing we can do is point out if you have a glaring hole. I don’t see one but I leave that to the Gurus to answer.

4. Last but not least HAVE FUN! I see too many young men and women get so wrapped around the axle and stressed out they forget or lose the love of what they wanted in the first place and when you get to the SA you’re so burnt out you’ll end up being up happy.
 
Last but not least HAVE FUN! I see too many young men and women get so wrapped around the axle and stressed out they forget or lose the love of what they wanted in the first place and when you get to the SA you’re so burnt out you’ll end up being up happy.

This!!!!

DaretoDream, it sounds like you are totally on the right track and more informed than most young people about the SAs. Kudos. Certainly keep working hard, add the community service, etc, but also take time to smell the roses and be a teenager!

Congrats on your desire to serve and good luck.
 
I am a junior at high school in Arkansas. I have dreamed and worked on gaining admission to the USAFA since the 7th grade. I have attended Academy Days each year offered by either the school or a local Congressman. I have taken the ACT three times since my 8th grade year improving each time. I have a Superscore of 32. My GPA is right at a 4.0 and I have taken several AP courses as a freshman and sophmore including AP Calculus, AP Human Geography and AP World History. I have scored a 4 or 5 on each AP exam and am classified as an AP Scholar. I am currently enrolled in AP Spanish, AP Physics, IB Calculus and AP English. I will graduate with 3 years of French and Spanish. I am a letterman on the school's tennis team. I rank in the top 10% of a class of more than a 1000 students.

Outside of school I am active in the Civil Air Patrol cadet program. I gained my life-saving certification and worked over the summer as a life guard for my city pool. I also work during school as a soccer referee. I was nominated and am working through a major company on a leadership initiative on inclusion at my school. I have participated and scored well for two years in the Cyber Patriot competition and was awarded a $1000 scholarship last year by the Women in Aviation to work towards my pilot's license.

As I prepare to apply, what advice can you give or what is missing that I should work on to improve my application. Thanks.

Congratulations on a great high school career! It is probably implied in all of your activities, but be clear on what kinds of leadership you have developed in your activities, especially as part of a team. My kid was a team captain in an individual performance sport like yours and it's important to identify how a team captain is able to lead and motivate a team of individual performers. This will likely come up in your interviews with MOCs and ALO. Also, as mentioned before, really work on that CFA with a view towards maxing out as much as you can. Don't settle for averaging anything; go for the max! Don't settle for the flexed arm hang, and practice the basketball throw, though as a tennis player you likely have more ability than most in that activity.
Good luck!
 
Thanks

I appreciate the suggestions. I am having fun. I will work on more community service work and am striving for some leadership roles this year. Where do I get information on the SFA?
 
Where do I get information on the SFA?

I assume that SFA is a typo. The CFA you can be found here. If you mean something else ignore my post.

https://admissions.usafa.edu/RRS/Online_CFA_2013.pdf

You can see the AFA Admin page here for max scores and a short description.

http://www.academyadmissions.com/admissions/the-application-process/fitness-assessment/#fortheexaminer

I also forgot to mention try to attend Boys/Girls State. It's usually during the summer between your junior and senior year in HS. Main web site is here and from there you can find you state chapter and web site.

http://www.boysandgirlsstate.org/
 
Also - run. When you're done running, run some more.

My DD is a sprinter. Has always been a sprinter. Will always be a sprinter. She's fast. She does not do well in long distance running. She had a heck of a time during BCT because that's what they do. They run everywhere. Keep in mind that my DD played varsity volleyball, basketball, tennis, track, and she's a 2D black belt. The running about killed her. So .. start running.

-- Proud Mom to USAFA 2018 cadet
 
Summer seminar

Apply to summer seminar at usafa and any other military academy.
 
Advice from an ALO

To quote others, you've got to nail the CFA. Most people do not practice the entire CFA from start to finish. They go out and do pushups and then they rest, they go and do situps and then they rest etc. You need to practice taking the CFA repeatedly as if you were being tested for real. The test is designed to be challenging yet too many people think, "oh it's just a mile run." After you've done all of those other events, putting a personal best effort into the run is very difficult. Our friends at USMA have recently released an EXCELLENT video on the CFA but since I am new to this forum, I can't post links yet. Do a search for "West Point Candidate Fitness Assessment (CFA) test" Remember, the CFA is the same for USAFA, USNA and USMA.

Yes, leadership is important...very important. I always like to see real results from a candidates leadership. If you were the president of the student body, that shows you were popular but in that role you can provide me with tangible results, it makes my job a lot easier.

Don't be afraid to contact your local ALO now...or at least in the Spring. You can go to the academyadmissions(dot)com and there's a link to find out who your ALO is. Most of us are extremely busy but they should be able to help you out with questions. It's much easier for us to perform an evaluation on a candidate who we've known for awhile.

Lastly, do not put all your eggs in one basket. While USAFA may be your dream, obtaining a commission and SERVING as a military leader should be the goal. I highly encourage my candidates to apply widely, to include AFROTC.

Hope this helps you out.
 
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