Am I competitive?

[USAFA_nominee#1]

I’m posting this knowing that y’all have probably seen posts like this dozens of times, but please bear with me. I would like to list out my achievements, as I still have quite some time in high school to improve on these, and ask you what I can do to build and improve my application. I will be applying to USAFA, USNA, and the Merchant-Marine Academy. I am currently a sophomore. I am a varsity Cross Country runner and I am an Ultramarathon runner in my own time. I am the sophomore class secretary for student council, a member of key club, and quite active in serving in my church (I started a life group that I lead). I am the president of the republicans club at my school and quite involved in community politics (it is worth noting that I have met my congressional representative and senators on several occasions and I am very familiar with his staff), additionally I am have lettered for the debate, current events, math, number sense, and mock congress teams. I am the founder and “captain” (president) of Fellowship of Christian Athletes at my school. I am also the historian for the math club. Finally, I’m 3/325 in my class rank and climbing. I’m quite worried about my competitiveness, but there’s a lot of room for growth here. I’m reaching for Stuco and NHS President/vice-president and better officer roles in the math club. I am also talking about founding a Beta Club at my school and the benefits of that, but we do already have a key club. I have also taken the PSAT and have national Merit in my goals. My biggest flaws in the current status of my application are that I only have one varsity sport. I might letter in track but, as you can tell as I am an Ultra runner, I’m not a fan of the short distances in track. I’m just not a crazy good athlete. I am open and begging for constructive criticism and advice on the next 2.5 years of high school. My school doesn’t have a lot of clubs or classes so I have opportunities to be the founder of a lot of things if anybody has recommendations.

 

[ak29]

Honestly the number of sports does not necessarily matter... the fact that you are on one varsity sport in high school already makes you more competitive than those that do not have any sports. Just focus on keeping up your grades and SAT scores.... those are probably the most important thing to focus on considering the fact that your activities are strong in my opinion. Take a lot of AP/IB/honors courses if possible, and consistently strive to get the best SAT score you can. Reach out if you have more questions -- I'm currently a sophomore at USAFA so I have my fair share of admissions stories.

 

[USAFA_nominee#1]

Honestly the number of sports does not necessarily matter... the fact that you are on one varsity sport in high school already makes you more competitive than those that do not have any sports. Just focus on keeping up your grades and SAT scores.... those are probably the most important thing to focus on considering the fact that your activities are strong in my opinion. Take a lot of AP/IB/honors courses if possible, and consistently strive to get the best SAT score you can. Reach out if you have more questions -- I'm currently a sophomore at USAFA so I have my fair share of admissions stories.

I’m in all AP/Honors/Dual Credit because of my class rank competitiveness. In fact I’m working on bringing AP Computer Science to my school to raise my GPA. What’s the range for SAT/PSAT score you recommend I strive for? A big source of stress for me right now is making national merit.

 

[Academician]

As a sophomore, you have time to align your plans. Keep up the good work. Look for ways to expand your 'impact' in your leadership roles. Brainstorm ideas and try implementing them with your teams and clubs.

Start preparing for the CFA. I emphasize to all of my students that the CFA is not an 'end' but the start of a commitment to physical fitness as a military officer candidate. Their workout routines must be 'routine' and continue throughout the school year and summer as they prepare to arrive at the Academy, or on the college campus, ready to meet the fitness requirements for either program, USFA or Air Force ROTC.

Good luck with your preparations!

 

[severn]

I’m posting this knowing that y’all have probably seen posts like this dozens of times, but please bear with me. I would like to list out my achievements, as I still have quite some time in high school to improve on these, and ask you what I can do to build and improve my application. I will be applying to USAFA, USNA, and the Merchant-Marine Academy. I am currently a sophomore. I am a varsity Cross Country runner and I am an Ultramarathon runner in my own time. I am the sophomore class secretary for student council, a member of key club, and quite active in serving in my church (I started a life group that I lead). I am the president of the republicans club at my school and quite involved in community politics (it is worth noting that I have met my congressional representative and senators on several occasions and I am very familiar with his staff), additionally I am have lettered for the debate, current events, math, number sense, and mock congress teams. I am the founder and “captain” (president) of Fellowship of Christian Athletes at my school. I am also the historian for the math club. Finally, I’m 3/325 in my class rank and climbing. I’m quite worried about my competitiveness, but there’s a lot of room for growth here. I’m reaching for Stuco and NHS President/vice-president and better officer roles in the math club. I am also talking about founding a Beta Club at my school and the benefits of that, but we do already have a key club. I have also taken the PSAT and have national Merit in my goals. My biggest flaws in the current status of my application are that I only have one varsity sport. I might letter in track but, as you can tell as I am an Ultra runner, I’m not a fan of the short distances in track. I’m just not a crazy good athlete. I am open and begging for constructive criticism and advice on the next 2.5 years of high school. My school doesn’t have a lot of clubs or classes so I have opportunities to be the founder of a lot of things if anybody has recommendations.

... above post looked ok to me.
Please provide more input:

*Fitness (pushups, pullups, mile)
*STEM (Math, Sciences)
*SAT (test schedule, prep)

 

[USAFA_nominee#1]

As a sophomore, you have time to align your plans. Keep up the good work. Look for ways to expand your 'impact' in your leadership roles. Brainstorm ideas and try implementing them with your teams and clubs.

Start preparing for the CFA. I emphasize to all of my students that the CFA is not an 'end' but the start of a commitment to physical fitness as a military officer candidate. Their workout routines must be 'routine' and continue throughout the school year and summer as they prepare to arrive at the Academy, or on the college campus, ready to meet the fitness requirements for either program, USFA or Air Force ROTC.

Good luck with your preparations!

Thank you for your help! Preparing for the CFA is actually what got me into working out and now I lift either compound weights or body weights every day. I’m not sure what I need to do to max out the CFA but if you do I’d appreciate that info.

 

[severn]

Thank you for your help! Preparing for the CFA is actually what got me into working out and now I lift either compound weights or body weights every day. I’m not sure what I need to do to max out the CFA but if you do I’d appreciate that info.

...well providing pushups/situps/mile numbers is a start. I think you have not even started training for CFA

 

[USAFA_nominee#1]

... above post looked ok to me.
Please provide more input:

*Fitness (pushups, pullups, mile)
*STEM (Math, Sciences)
*SAT (test schedule, prep)

Mile time is bad, I’m a really long distance runner. Approximately 5:10 or so. Maybe better but not much worse than that. Push-ups are bad too, 40 without rest. Pull-ups are not bad, I can do 19 without rest, full ROM. PSAT score has not come in yet, but I can confidently say 1300+ but I can’t predict anything higher without being overconfident (I have been studying, though). I have all 100s in my classes for this semester. I got really serious about my grades halfway through freshman year and picked up my rank from 10 to 3 and still climbing, so to keep that rank and GPA moving up I’ve been making nearly perfect grades to make up for my mistakes the first semester of freshman year. Currently I have a 103 in Adv Algebra 2, 100 in Adv Physics, and 100 in Adv Chem. 8th grade I had a final average of 96 in Algebra and last year I had a final average of 99 in Adv Geometry and 99 in Adv Bio. Not happy about my past grades, but my grades going forward, and therefore my STEM grades going forward, should be all 100s. I’m obviously good at STEM classes I just didn’t start applying myself until late last year.

 

[Academician]

Focus on the averages posted by USAFA. I assume you are a male, so they are generally . . .

EXERCISE	AVG FOR MEN
Basketball Throw	68'
Pull-Ups	13
Shuttle Run	8.7 sec
Modified Sit-Ups (crunches)	81
Push-Ups	61
One Mile Run	6:31

 

[USAFA_nominee#1]

...well providing pushups/situps/mile numbers is a start. I think you have not even started training for CFA

110+ sit-ups in 2 minutes ( I believe that is the cutoff). 40 push-ups without rest, 19 pull-ups without rest, approx. 5:10 mile. I ran 5:15 in track last year and haven’t ran one since but I’ve been training for XC and Ultras since. Not sure what that comment is for but I have been doing sit-up-push-up-pull-up circuits for a year now. Went from 0 pull-ups to 19 and 15 push-ups to 40.

 

[USAFA_nominee#1]

Focus on the averages posted by USAFA. I assume you are a male, so they are generally . . .

EXERCISE	AVG FOR MEN
Basketball Throw	68'
Pull-Ups	13
Shuttle Run	8.7 sec
Modified Sit-Ups (crunches)	81
Push-Ups	61
One Mile Run	6:31

I’m not necessarily interested in being average. Could I see the numbers required to get the max score?

 

[severn]

Mile time is bad, I’m a really long distance runner. Approximately 5:10 or so. Maybe better but not much worse than that. Push-ups are bad too, 40 without rest. Pull-ups are not bad, I can do 19 without rest, full ROM. PSAT score has not come in yet, but I can confidently say 1300+ but I can’t predict anything higher without being overconfident (I have been studying, though). I have all 100s in my classes for this semester. I got really serious about my grades halfway through freshman year and picked up my rank from 10 to 3 and still climbing, so to keep that rank and GPA moving up I’ve been making nearly perfect grades to make up for my mistakes the first semester of freshman year. Currently I have a 103 in Adv Algebra 2, 100 in Adv Physics, and 100 in Adv Chem. 8th grade I had a final average of 96 in Algebra and last year I had a final average of 99 in Adv Geometry and 99 in Adv Bio. Not happy about my past grades, but my grades going forward, and therefore my STEM grades going forward, should be all 100s. I’m obviously good at STEM classes I just didn’t start applying myself until late last year.

... thanks. Ok.
** 5:10 mile. Great. Maintain this one. Be mindful, stay away from binge eating pizza.
*** 19 Pullups. Great... but 19? Are you sure it's perfect form?? To do a perfect form, must go back to complete hang position before repeating the rep. Focus on perfect form, 10-12 reps.
**** 40 Pushups --> No Go. Hit the gym 3X a week. Do regular bench and incline bench as well as dumbbell chest splits. Weights should be increasing week after week. Bring a notebook to record progress.
+++++ SAT Missing. Enroll in SAT Prep Course. Usually they will give you a practice book 6 inches thick with 10 live practice exams. Take at least 5 exams. Collect all the Missed problems. Cut them out from the book and assemble them into a "new" exam. Practice.
****** Math. Take Trig, Precalculus, Calculus.
* Science. Chemistry, Physics.

 

[USAFA_nominee#1]

... thanks. Ok.
** 5:10 mile. Great. Maintain this one. Be mindful, stay away from binge eating pizza.
*** 19 Pullups. Great... but 19? Are you sure it's perfect form?? To do a perfect form, must go back to complete hang position before repeating the rep. Focus on perfect form, 10-12 reps.
**** 40 Pushups --> No Go. Hit the gym 3X a week. Do regular bench and incline bench as well as dumbbell chest splits. Weights should be increasing week after week. Bring a notebook to record progress.
+++++ SAT Missing. Enroll in SAT Prep Course. Usually they will give you a practice book 6 inches thick with 10 live practice exams. Take at least 5 exams. Collect all the Missed problems. Cut them out from the book and assemble them into a "new" exam. Practice.
****** Math. Take Trig, Precalculus, Calculus.
* Science. Chemistry, Physics.

Thank you! I am of course going to take every every math and science class my school offers (except forensic science and earth science). My school doesn’t offer a lot and is behind it terms of material, so I’m the only kid taking Physics sophomore year because I requested to take it early. My classes don’t look impressive but compared to everyone else in my school they are. I haven’t really thought about my push-ups a lot but yes I should be more consistent with training to improve those. And I am so serious about the pull-ups. My back muscles are so disproportionally large to the rest of my body it’s just not funny. I can do well over 25 if I do the cheat reps that kids always do when the marines comes to school during lunch. I have been doing online Kahn Academy and Zoom class SAT prep but around Christmas time I plan on buying prep books, so that’s a good idea. Once I get my PSAT back I’ll know exactly what to study and I can sign up for my next SAT in December and proceed from there. Thank you for the advice! I will definetely fix my push-ups and grind that SAT prep.

 

[severn]

Thank you! I am of course going to take every every math and science class my school offers (except forensic science and earth science). My school doesn’t offer a lot and is behind it terms of material, so I’m the only kid taking Physics sophomore year because I requested to take it early. My classes don’t look impressive but compared to everyone else in my school they are. I haven’t really thought about my push-ups a lot but yes I should be more consistent with training to improve those. And I am so serious about the pull-ups. My back muscles are so disproportionally large to the rest of my body it’s just not funny. I can do well over 25 if I do the cheat reps that kids always do when the marines comes to school during lunch. I have been doing online Kahn Academy and Zoom class SAT prep but around Christmas time I plan on buying prep books, so that’s a good idea. Once I get my PSAT back I’ll know exactly what to study and I can sign up for my next SAT in December and proceed from there. Thank you for the advice! I will definetely fix my push-ups and grind that SAT prep.

... about the PSAT, don't worry about it much. Laser focus now on SAT Prep. Remember on cutting the missed problems and assemble them into a new test? it will turbocharged your SAT knowledge. Some of the missed problems are so advanced and most will miss it. If you/your parents can afford it, hire a Calculus/Physics tutor 2x per week. This tutor can help solve the SAT Math problems.

 

[Academician]

If you hit average on every CFA event, then you will be in the top 25% of all scores. Maximums are also published by USAFA.

 

[T-37IP]

Boys State between junior and senior year.

 

[ak29]

I’m in all AP/Honors/Dual Credit because of my class rank competitiveness. In fact I’m working on bringing AP Computer Science to my school to raise my GPA. What’s the range for SAT/PSAT score you recommend I strive for? A big source of stress for me right now is making national merit.

The USAFA admissions page says that you are not competitive if you score below 620 on English and/or 580 on math. That adds up to roughly 1200. Hence, you should be striving for the maxes. They take into account your SAT score way higher than other universities would, so ideally the higher the score the better....... I'd say at the minimum 1380 would be strong. Anything above that is great.

 

[sktr127]

I’m in all AP/Honors/Dual Credit because of my class rank competitiveness. In fact I’m working on bringing AP Computer Science to my school to raise my GPA. What’s the range for SAT/PSAT score you recommend I strive for? A big source of stress for me right now is making national merit.

Qualifying for National Merit Semi-Finalist depends on your state’s selection index. For example, I qualified for Semi-Finalist with a 1470 because my state’s index was ~219 or ~220 or something like that.
This seems like a good site: https://thecollegepanda.com/psat-national-merit-cutoff-calculator/
Some states do have lower indices but in my opinion, you should strive for the highest score possible regardless of your state’s index because it will only help you later on in the process. In my application to be a Finalist, we had to submit our SAT scores, essays, transcripts, and a recommendation letter from your counselor. If your SAT score doesn’t meet a certain standard, even if your PSAT score was high, they disqualify you. It all has to make sense & point towards you being a good student. Each of the SAs has a range of the SAT scores that the applicants have, and for USAFA it’s from 1320-1470, which is kind of high, but I’d recommend higher if you’re looking for National Merit or just to be more competitive academically. Hope this helps.

Edit: meant to post the link to College Board’s Summary about USAFA lol

United States Air Force Academy Admissions - BigFuture College Search

United States Air Force Academy is very selective with an acceptance rate of 16%. Students that get into United States Air Force Academy have an SAT score between 1320–1470 or an ACT score of 28–33. Regular applications are due December 31.

bigfuture.collegeboard.org

 

[MDRDV]

I’m posting this knowing that y’all have probably seen posts like this dozens of times, but please bear with me. I would like to list out my achievements, as I still have quite some time in high school to improve on these, and ask you what I can do to build and improve my application. I will be applying to USAFA, USNA, and the Merchant-Marine Academy. I am currently a sophomore. I am a varsity Cross Country runner and I am an Ultramarathon runner in my own time. I am the sophomore class secretary for student council, a member of key club, and quite active in serving in my church (I started a life group that I lead). I am the president of the republicans club at my school and quite involved in community politics (it is worth noting that I have met my congressional representative and senators on several occasions and I am very familiar with his staff), additionally I am have lettered for the debate, current events, math, number sense, and mock congress teams. I am the founder and “captain” (president) of Fellowship of Christian Athletes at my school. I am also the historian for the math club. Finally, I’m 3/325 in my class rank and climbing. I’m quite worried about my competitiveness, but there’s a lot of room for growth here. I’m reaching for Stuco and NHS President/vice-president and better officer roles in the math club. I am also talking about founding a Beta Club at my school and the benefits of that, but we do already have a key club. I have also taken the PSAT and have national Merit in my goals. My biggest flaws in the current status of my application are that I only have one varsity sport. I might letter in track but, as you can tell as I am an Ultra runner, I’m not a fan of the short distances in track. I’m just not a crazy good athlete. I am open and begging for constructive criticism and advice on the next 2.5 years of high school. My school doesn’t have a lot of clubs or classes so I have opportunities to be the founder of a lot of things if anybody has recommendations.

Extra curricular overload! Pick a couple that speak about you and that you enjoy. No need to go be a founder for more. Athletics seems okay. Do trial CFAs to find your weakness and work on them. You are silent on the most important element... academics. Take standardized tests now to know where you are and to know where work is needed. Take or target calc, physics and chem to the highest level available at your school.
Find your plan B and C if you do not get an appointment. Keep an open mind, life changes, you may find going to a service academy isn't really what you want to do.

 

[Osprey123]

... about the PSAT, don't worry about it much. Laser focus now on SAT Prep. Remember on cutting the missed problems and assemble them into a new test? it will turbocharged your SAT knowledge. Some of the missed problems are so advanced and most will miss it. If you/your parents can afford it, hire a Calculus/Physics tutor 2x per week. This tutor can help solve the SAT Math problems.

The SAT doesn't have Calculus.

OP, I wouldn't take the SAT before finishing Algebra 2. Take it Junior year at the beginning and the end after a year of PreCal. Learn Desmos since the SAT will be online. I do the SAT prep online since the test is online. Books are OK too.

1450 for your SAT goal. Also try the ACT if you're good with science. 33 for an ACT goal.