Can People List their qualifications that got them into the Acadamey?

matthew123

10-Year Member
5-Year Member
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Apr 23, 2009
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Hi can people please tell me their qualifications that got them into the USAFA? I will list mine, I have a 4.2 GPA, I am in Advance or AP classes currently taking the hardest. I am a varsity letterman for Wrestling. I play varsity football, I am in the band, I am first chair Bari sax, and I am also in the Jazz band. I have 350 Hours of community service through the Hospital. I lead singing and go visiting the elderly for my church. I went to Mexico for a Mission trip, that was pretty fun at the same time sad to see people in that situation. I am in National Honors Society, I went to police week, and Boys State. I started my very own History Club at my school, Called HICCUP, it is very popular and is a strong club. I am a member of the Spanish club, and Youth Engaging in Technology Club. At the hospital I am a trainer and a chairperson. My father was in the NAVY. My grand father is a retired Lieutent Cornell in the Air force. I have 2 uncles in the marines, 2 uncles in the Navy, and 1 in the Army. My other grand father was in the Air Force.
 
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Your qualifications look good. Work hard, get the application done, and you should be in good shape.

Keep in mind, the Academy looks at you as a 'whole person.' Everything you submit goes into your score. None of us can tell you if you'll get in or not, but the main thing is, if you want it bad enough, you've got a chance, and that's all that matters.

Edit: because you asked...

4.0 GPA unweighted, 1st in class out of 175
Varsity Baseball
Less community service then you
Lots of extracurricular (Drama, FBLA, NHS, G-Club, Quiz Bowl)
VP as a Junior and President as senior of my FBLA chapter
college classes through dual enrollment
decent on the CFA
No military background
I spelled 'extracurricular' wrong and had to edit this post.


I received a Letter of Assurance in October and my Appointment in November.

Basically, you look better than me on paper. Contact your ALO if you haven't already done so, and start communicating with him/her. Good luck.
 
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pure awesomeness :shake:

no really, check your PM in a few minutes...
 
Nice, So I am pretty well qualified the only difference is that I am number 5 in my class. And I am not the VP or President, but I am president of my history club:D. So we pretty much average out to be about the same. Now unweighted I have a 4.0 GPA. I also do noting but hard work and I am getting ready for my test next year as a Junior. I am in good shape due to wrestling but you know what. From a Christian mind it will be gods will if I get accepted.
 
My grand father is a retired Lieutent Cornell in the Air force

Haha sorry I had to. Lieutenant Colonel. That being said, you do look very qualified. I got in with a class rank of 9/126 and a 3.92 GPA. (Although, on my admissions page, USAFA changed it to a 4.0 for some reason..) Your community service seems strong, and a military background will do nothing but help prepare you for the rigors of the Academy. Like Matt, I got that coveted LOA in October, with a nom in November and acceptance in December. Also like Matt, my qualifications were not as strong as yours, so you are definitely in a good position. I'm assuming you are c/o 2014?

Keep up the good work, and congratulations for having a smart train of thought; the Air Force Academy is the best place in the world for post HS education, IMHO. :)
 
4.0 GPA unweighted, 5th in class out of 300
Varsity Volleyball and Nordic Skiing, JV Track
NHS member
Girl Scout
Recipient for Caring Youth Award for my city
IB Diploma Candidate
decent on the CFA, but I have some work to do before the PFT
Father is retired AF captain through ROTC
35 ACT, 1480 SAT ( that's writing and math, I think)

I received my LOA in November and my appointment in February.
 
Forgot my ACT scores:
Best out of the two times I took it:

English: 34
Math: 31
Science Reasoning: 33
Reading: 29 (don't give you enough time AT ALL)
Combined English/Writing: 31
Composite: 31
 
Geez....everyone is so involved in clubs. I am definitely not as involved with things like that. I'm in student council and 4-H, but no sports (I ride horses through 4-H and competitively).... You guys all make me sound super unqualified
 
gpa now is 3.96 but was 4.0 back when i submitted forms
was 1st/490, now about 20
pretty much all AP/honors classes
varsity letter in xc, 2 in track
JV xc captain, leader in track team
section leader for band
marching, concert, and jazz band
33 composite ACT, 34 superscore
play trumpet at church and VFW for special occasions
do lots of community service via church
2 mission trips to honduras and 1 to parsons, kansas
NHS and TRI-M,

didnt do great on CFA
58 ft bball throw
5 pullups (i can do 11 now...)
9.1 shuttle run
85 situps
50 pushups
6:12 mile

Got my LOA, NOM and APPT all in november, each one week after the other. APPT came the monday before thanksgiving. great feeling. you should be fine. not that we can say for sure because there are plenty of kids that are just as qualified as all of us have been but don't get in for some reason. in the words of my dad, "just don't be stupid" that goes for all appointees too...
 
Because you're new, I'll post a couple tidbits of information. But my first suggestion; being you have some time on your hand; is to SEARCH through this forum. There's a lot of "What are my chances" type threads.

TIDBITS:
1) There's a lot of factors that go into the whole person score that eventually determines if you will receive an appointment or not. What you write on your resume here is only part of it.
2) You are MORE in competition with others in your nomination category than with others throughout the country. E.g. MOC nomination, presidential, vp, etc....
3) IF your father was in the navy long enough; I believe it's 8 years or more (Don't quote me); you could be eligible for a presidential nomination. Keep that in mind when you speak with your ALO and advisor.
4) ALOs take care of geographic areas generally. Just because you aren't applying quite yet, doesn't mean that you can't find out who he/she is and get to know them.
5) I don't understand what you mean by you're getting ready for your test NEXT year as a junior??? Plus you said you attended boy's state; I'm sure every school/state is different, but our's was always in the summer prior to senior year??? So, are you a sophomore or Junior, or Senior?????
6) Continue to take the hardest classes; stay in shape; etc... Your resume basically looks very good and competitive.
7) As for your faith, that's good. I too have a strong Christian faith (READ my screen name, it might let you know which way I lean). But please don't think it's all up to God. It isn't. He allows us freedom of choice. As such, if you truly trust him, and he doesn't want you to do this, then the desire will leave you. If you trust him and your desire is still strong, then he is allowing you to do it. But YOU have to do the work. He's not going to take you test, cfa, nomination interviews, etc... for you. And if you don't get in, you can't blame him or say it wasn't his will. Don't get me wrong; I love god. But you're not his robot. You control your future. He simply allows it or not; and he speaks to your soul in the hopes you'll make the right decisions. But he won't make the decision for you.
8) Which brings up the final point. There's a lot of really qualified individuals who apply to the academy. Out of the 9500-10,000 who apply; more than half are extremely qualified. Of them, only 1300-1400 will walk through the tunnel on June 25-26th. There's a lot of reasons why highly qualified individuals don't get an appointment. Usually, it boils down to there only being so many nominations. And if you are in a very competitive district/state/category, that can mean you have to be that much better.

Now I've NEVER written down my son's qualifications before. He doesn't visit the forums or read the threads, and I always preferred to keep him out of this. Just in case I got a little passionate and someone said something to their son/daughter, who knew someone, who knew my son, etc... I don't want him caught in the middle of my personal tantrums and passions. I won't give a detailed resume, but I will say that yours is very competitive. Just like packermatt, my son was #1 in his class. He had a 4.0gpa (unweighted) with all classes being in the IB program. He did receive the IB diploma. He had varsity letters in numerous sports, many ec, only took the SAT and ACT once each and did very well in them. But I did spend 21 years in the Air Force and he received a presidential nomination the 1st of July. He completed his entire application process 100% on July 19th. And he received an appointment the first week of November. The fact that he was 100% complete with his application so early, definitely helped.

The most important thing I can tell you is to complete the process as soon as possible. Get to know your ALO/Advisor; they are your greatest resource. LOA and early appointments are looked at starting the first of October. The sooner your application is complete, the sooner you will be looked at and possibly given an appointment if you have your nomination, or an LOA. Best of luck to you. Mike.....
 
Well, mine is short and sweet. Nothing long like all you overachievers (jk :p)

GPA: ~3.96
Rank: 20/200
ACT: 30 Composite (only took it once)
Sports: Varsity letter in XC, expecting one in soccer as well.
Extracurricular: Uh...
Clubs: SkillsUSA, FBLA, NTHS, NHS
Special Things: 11th in the nation at Television (Video) Production in SkillsUSA
CFA:
Basketball: 69'
Pullups: 12
Shuttle: 8.4
Situps: 55 I think
Pushups: 45 I think
Mile: 7:14

Yeah, pretty bleh, but it got me in. I must have something special that they saw in me, but I'm not complaining! I might have left some stuff off since I'm pretty loopy right now off of meds and lack of sleep, but you get the picture.
 
err..

GPA: 3.62
Rank: 186/749 :eek:
ACT: 30
SAT: 1240
JV Track 1 year, Varsity Track 2 years -- Captain Senior Year
FBLA Officer 3 years, German Club officer 1 year
Dad was a Marine 1LT in another country

CFA:
BB - 78'8
Pullups - 18
Shuttle - 8.94s
Situps- 95
Pushups - 70
Mile - 7:09

Application was complete around January 30
Received Appointment dated 09 Feb

I think what helped me get in is that I am able to speak fluent Mandarin Chinese.
 
I am currently a Sophomore, But I was able to attend boys state with some strings pulled. Now I am studying for my ACT and SAT you guys must be really smart. I took the plan test last year and only got an 18. But I am studying and stuff plus I have about 230 more days of education that I did not have last year. When should I send in a nomination request to my congressman? Should I do it now and possibly get an early meet. Also I contacted my school and they had no clue who are ALO is, could someone run a search for me? I live in washington PA. 15301-3820. I want to talk with the ALO. Thank you very much.
 
I think you have a very good shot. Just simply keeping up the good work in all areas should land you an LOA.
 
I think Im pretty average when it comes to the Appointees that got in....lol

GPA: ~4.1
Rank: 21/290
Sports: Varsity letter in waterpolo/swim
Extracurricular: BSA,piano
Clubs: make a wish, honor society
Special Things: uncle wrote rec that taught at USAFA
CFA:
Basketball: 70'
Pullups: 7
Shuttle: 8.1
Situps: 70
Pushups: 63
Mile: 6:30
 
ChristCorp, I think you forgot something I loved about your son: HE KICKED THE FIELD GOAL THAT WON THEM THE STATE TITLE! :thumb:
 
lol... well if you insist:


Determination

Hard work

Passion




Hope this helps.
 
OK....Our son was denied, so here are his stats and maybe you can see where he was weak.

CFA....was above the mean. I will have to dig it out of the file, but he did well.

Class rank: Top 5% private school does not give number ranking.
GPA 4.15 on grading scale of 93-100=A
ACT: 36 english and writing, 35 science 34 over all

AP Scholar award winner: 4 and 5 on 4 tests taking 4 more in may
33 honors and AP classes in high school was accepted into University of DAyton as Junior and took college coarse....4.0

Acitvities: Retreat leader for school, asked to be inspirational speaker. Leader of other leaders, elected by peers.
Lettered in x country as freshman, Jv baseball as freshman, Moved schools: Then did marching band and lettered, brass ensembles. won many awards including Grand reserve champions, impressive for a small band.

Eagle scout with palms, and order of the arrow

Junior engineer team won two years in a row and just ranked 6th in nation
NHS
community service through school and scouts...tons
Honors all 4 years
superiors state science fair,perfect 40 score and ton of awards

Had lead in school play and was student director for school musical

Was a student director at High adventure camp for scouts...taught classes and led hikes.

was a lifeguard with a save. I am sure little girl's parents are forever grateful, I know I am grateful he was on duty.

Father grad and still active duty....didn't help.
 
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