US Civil Air Patrol - USAFA Class of 2020 Survey

Padre101

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Just curious to see if there are any CAP cadets who applied to the USAFA this year. What are your CAP rank and position?

AFA LOA? BFE? TWE? Wait-list? Prep? Falcon Scholars?

Thanks.
 
C/CMSgt. Working on my Armstrong achievement. 3+ yrs

Didn't get accepted to the Academy this year. However, I'm looking forward to PJOC this summer
Hbu?
 
C/CMSgt. Working on my Armstrong achievement. 3+ yrs

Didn't get accepted to the Academy this year. However, I'm looking forward to PJOC this summer
Hbu?
DS is a junior. Capt. Deputy commander. Going to AFA Summer Seminar. Best wishes at PJOC.
 
C/2d Lt. Cadet commander, several summer activities, and other leadership positions. It was my Math SAT that was my downfall. CAP was instrumental in AFROTC scholarship and two nominations. (No USAFA)
 
DS
C/CM Sgt. Encampment Leadership 2 summers Squadron Cadet of the year. Armstrong award.
High stats etc. Listed on another thread.
TWE USAFA and USMA.
Keep promoting and bettering yourself.
 
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My DS received an appointment. He was a C/2nd Lt. and earned the Billy Mitchell. He also applied and went to a National Powered Flight Academy and had some flight leadership responsibilities. He also competed on the Cyber Patriot team for two years.

My only advice to you if you plan to apply to a SA is to understand this is only one factor of a total candidate resume. You need to post a strong GPA (remember the SAs do not use a weighted system). If you can take AP, IB classes it shows you challenged yourself in school. You also need to post a competitive test score. Take it early and often and don't settle for being in the median range. These make up the academic considerations.

You can't sleep on the fitness portion either. You need a varsity letter and if you can show success and leadership it will help set you apart from some applicants. Train and do well on the fitness test.

CAP helps you with the third consideration which is leadership. It shows some military training, but there are plenty of other opportunities for applicants as well. CAP was great for my DS as they had a strong organization in our area. Get involved in other leadership opportunities too even if you are in CAP. Boys or Girls State or summer seminars are highly thought of by the SAs.

In the end you need a complete application to be a strong candidate and it takes time to build the resume. Best of luck.
 
Wholeheartedly agree with above response from Dare to Dream. DS is also C/2nd Lt with
Billy Mitchell award, multiple summer CAP programs including RCLIS, as well as powered flight, and solo flight.

Has AP classes, class president, High End of SAT ranges, Varsity sport and captain, Eagle Scout , community service and overseas missions, but low to middle range of CFA.
He received TWE last week.

Also didn't realize how many USAFA applicants are re-applys. Much more competition than just your immediate peers.
Shoot for the top in all areas, and get help in any 'average ' areas you might have.
 
Pa Mom makes really good points. A lot of candidates are second and even third year applicants. Also, there are factors like geographical area and local competition that can play a part in the process. In the end there is no real one set of criteria that guarantees you an appointment.

My DS has a GPA in the 3.7-3.8 unweighted range. He took 16 AP/IB classes including 3 years of multiple foreign languages. He is in the top 10% of a senior class of more than a 1000 from a school that is highly ranked nationally. He has a 34 ACT with a 35 in Math and English (btw he started taking the ACT as an 8th grader and took it once a year through his junior year). He was in the high mid range on the CFA. He attended the USAFA and USNA SSs as a junior and was active in several other school and community activities and competitions. He was a 3 year letterman in tennis and a member of 3 state championship teams (however he was not a star player or captain). He started having conversations with his ALO in the 7th grade and checked with him annually to make sure he stayed on track. All of this and he was extremely lucky to get an appointment.

Work hard and become the all around candidate. Have a plan B and never give up. That is the advice given to my DS by several former SA grads during the process.
 
I fully agree that CAP is just one of the activities that will make your academy application complete, just like participating in Boy Scouts, and many other activities. In talking with different ALO's, most gave only a slight advantage to CAP versus Boy Scouts. I suggest doing whichever one you enjoy the most, and is closer in terms of driving distance. I drove my son to CAP meetings and it was over an hour drive one way, so it was a bit of a commitment, and he frequently was unable to attend many activities due to high school sports and other activities, and getting his private pilot's license. Additionally, there was an attitude at his squadron that maximum CAP participation and rank was the ticket to USAFA. However, five CAP cadets in his squadron (including my son) applied to USAFA summer seminar, and my son was the only one to get invited, also all five completed their application to USAFA and only my son was given candidate status. Please don't take it that I'm knocking CAP, he learned a lot there, but way too much emphasis on drill, drill, drill, at his squadron, and way too much attitude that CAP was extremely important in getting a USAFA appointment. If you choose CAP, make sure and try to get in their summer programs. Also, if your child doesn't seem to care for CAP all that much, don't take it that well maybe USAFA or the military isn't their calling. My son did not care for CAP all that much, since it wasn't much fun literally running off the football field and jumping in the car so we could get to CAP on a Tuesday night. However, he stayed as committed to CAP as he could. Probably, the one thing that made CAP worth it for him was attending the CAP SUPT-FC summer course at Columbus AFB. He loved it! After attending SUPT-FC he was more determined than ever to attend USAFA. My son has a little over a month and he will have competed his first year at USAFA, it seems like an eternity since we dropped him off on I-day!
 
C/Major, member for 5 years. Cadet Commander of unit, 3 years Encampment staff, 3 NCSAs (Distinguished Grad of 2). @SoloDad I might know your son - I was SUPT-FC 2014 in Columbus!

Appointments to 3 SAs. CAP is like a sewer - you get out of it what you put into it.
 
My DS was a C/1st Lt during application time (now C/Maj). Received his appointment on 3/19/16 to USAFA

4.4 GPA (3.98 unweighted), 16 honors/AP classes
32 ACT English
34 ACT math
Varsity Swim 10th-12th (trained year round)
Boy's State
National Flight Academy summer scholarship
Concert Band
Community Service

CAP was able to provide the opportunity for him to learn and understand what it means to be a leader. (Squadron Cadet Commander) It also fueled his obsession with flying. (Lots of O rides)

Even with all of his accomplishments, he had a plan B, C, and D in place.
 
I'm assuming you mean 2015. I know mine was sometime in the 1st week of November, I just put 1 NOV because that's what I remember - could be wrong, but close enough.
 
I'm assuming you mean 2015. I know mine was sometime in the 1st week of November, I just put 1 NOV because that's what I remember - could be wrong, but close enough.
@goforspaatz -Which SA are you going to chose? Also, do you know if anyone who got a November application deadline eventually got a TWE?
 
I need to make my signature line more clear. It's USAFA. I do not know, I thought there were some posters on here, but I'll have to dig to find out. I don't really know anyone locally who applied either. Sorry.
 
@goforspaatz -Which SA are you going to chose? Also, do you know if anyone who got a November application deadline eventually got a TWE?
My son had a Nov 10 deadline and was given a TWE last week. He called his admission counselor this week to ask about any weaknesses in his application. She said he was very competitive and could find no obvious weaknesses. The bottom line was that he was not chosen first from our member of congress' slate.
 
My DS completed his application early (before Oct. 1 I believe). Our MOC holds annual Academy Days that we started attending when our DS was a 7th grader. The majority opinion was to apply as early as possible.

A couple of other suggestions is to attend and meet your MOC prior to your application year. Developing that relationship with the MOC and their staff can be very helpful. The staff in our state starts identifying potential candidates early and will actually suggest to the parents to look into STEM and SSs at the SAs.

CAP is a great resume builder but think bigger picture and what can you do to separate yourself from others not just in the eyes of the SA but also within your congressional district.
 
Great suggestions from daretodream. Definitely recommend getting your name out there to the MOC staff early - when your application comes up they will recognize it. CAP is not the end-all for SAs. You need to be well-rounded. CAP can contribute to that. Also, in CAP, get involved with a lot of things. And get the Mitchell award, which is probably the single biggest thing you can do in CAP to add to your application (according to my ALO and FFR).
 
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