Accepting Appointment

M

mdzcpa

New Member
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Jan 15, 2015
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Hello All

I am looking for a little advice. After years of preparation and the challenging admissions process we are all very familiar with, my DS was fortunate enough to receive an Appointment for the USAFA Class of 2019. He received notice in his portal a few weeks ago. The USAFA was the only service academy he applied for (USAFA or bust!) and has been his top choice all through high school.

Like most others (I presume) my DS applied to several other quality schools with the intention of joining the ROTC should he not receive an appointment. He has received admission acceptances at several other great schools. His initial reaction upon receiving the Appointment from the USAFA was just to immediately accept the same day, but based on advice from others he paused to think the decision through thoroughly as well as see what other schools decided to offer.

Question: Today my DS remains 99.9% sure the USAFA is his choice and he is eager to accept the appointment and begin getting prepared. He has wanted and worked for it so long it seems like the obvious decision. However he has never quit anything in his life and wants to be completely sure before making such a big commitment. Does it hurt him to take this time before accepting? Are there any leadership positions or other opportunities he may miss out on by waiting? Although we already visited and toured the Academy last year, he is excited about attending Appointee Day in April. If he held his decision until that time could it affect him?

Thank you all for any input you can offer.
 
Congratulations to you and your DS! My DS just went through this same dilemma. He reasoned that since USAFA was by far his #1 pick, why wait? On my advice, he waited about a month while I tried to find guidance from those more experienced. My concern was that he be sure (he is) and that he preserve his AFRotc scholarship option in case of pre-I day injury.

In light of his certainty, we agreed that there was no point in hesitating and he accepted his appointment this past week! He is happy to be official and I am informed that thus will now open him up to receive info being sent out in early March. So, in my opinion, there is no downside in accepting your top choice now. You might as well start getting ready!

With respect to plan B schools, we have held off on making a decision because we do not want to accidentally create a conflict. I have been told that appointees can accept both and just show up on I-day to revoke the Plab B choice (which would be great), but I am concerned about the contractual fine print. As a lawyer, I will want to see in writing that it is okay to accept merely as a backup. Perhaps someone on this forum, like Pima or Christcorp ( whose advice has always been solid), will know.

Anyway, congrats again! June is coming soon!
 
Hello. My DS is a current C2C. We had the same questions. On the advice of some posters here, we paid the non-refundable deposits to Plans B and C (C being the state university). We did not cancel those offers (the state university had an ROTC attached, but we declined that--being a in-state school, the cost was not prohibitive) until DS completed BCT. The out of pocket expense was not great, and gave us a comfortable option if there was an injury or other issue that kept him from completing Basic. Keeping that option open was a safety net that was worth the expense. I remember some parents attending early summer orientations, going as far as scheduling classes and picking dorm rooms at backup colleges. If the expense of keeping your Plan B or C is not too great, you might want to consider that path. On the down side, we still get monthly parent-club newlettters/funding solicitaitons from Plan B!
 
Accepting the USAFA appointment has no downside. He can accept it and if things would change with his plans he can just not show up on I-day and owe nothing and have no obligation. I do not see where waiting to accept the appointment will gain him anything, although it will not hurt either.

Our son got his appointment at the end of November and accepted immediately, which took some pressure off since there was no more wondering. The difficulties were with his Plan B, C, and D. He wanted to be upfront with them and called admissions at each to ask about accepting their scholarships and reserving a spot in case something happened where USAFA wasn't going to work out. Schools B and C (Northwestern and Rice) were not accommodating and said that he either had to commit to them or they would remove the scholarship offer. His Plan D school was MSOE and they were the nicest people to work with and were more than happy to do whatever they could to help. They not only held his scholarship open for him in case he needed it, they also allowed him to do all of his registration and housing with only putting a housing deposit down. It was not until after Acceptance Day that he called them and let them know that he would not be coming, and even then they were very understanding. It definitely depends on the school.

Stealth_81
 
Waiting will not hurt him in any way. He won't miss out on any leadership opportunities by waiting. Nobody there in charge of training him will have any idea when he accepted. Once he shows up on I day they are all equal: basic cadets with no rank or leadership. Lowest of the low. They all start that way as a team and build themselves and each other back up together. Leadership opportunities will become available as 3rd class cadets and beyond.
 
The ONLY way waiting can harm him is if he didn't accept the appointment by the "deadline/drop-dead" date. I don't know what that is this year; it might be in the paperwork, but it's certainly not very soon. All the other comments above; especially those of Stealth81 are dead-on accurate!

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
If you accept and later change your mind, please let USAFA Admissions know ASAP! you may be depriving another deserving individual of an appointment if your plan is just to not show up on I day and you tell no one/
 
Thanks for all the good advise. My DS is going to accept this weekend. As his other remaining offers come in, if for any reason he changes his mind, he will certainly inform USAFA Admissions right away. He spoke of not wanting to take up a spot, or more accurately, delay anyone else's potential appointment. So he's very aware of that point. But all of this is more conjecture than real planning as he is extremely excited about the Academy and is already looking forward to Appointees Day and getting prepared. In my heart I know he didn't jump to accept the appointment right away because he thought pausing and weighing his options was expected of him as the right thing to do. His passion is for the USAFA.
 
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