Prep school questions

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Griffin64

5-Year Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2010
Messages
9
Well I guess I should start by introducing myself. I am a soon to be high school senior and a hopeful for the Air force academy class of 2016(entering 2012). I think I am a fairly strong candidate overall but my one weakness would be academics. I know that the prep school is designed to bring people who are academically lacking up to speed. So my questions are:

How many people each year get into the prep school?
How many of them are enlisted/ recruited athletes?

Any advice or help would be much appreciated. Oh and if you ever went into the prep school would you mind posting your stats for me to get a better idea.
 
I'm going to a prep school this year..

GPA- 3.7

ACT-27 (I'm sure you know, but take this as much as possible. Get every section up to a 30 if you can.)

I took a couple of AP courses

I played Varsity soccer all 4 years in HS and played club soccer for 9 years

I had a couple of jobs during the summer. (Mowing lawns, refereeing, working on a ranch, etc.)

I wasn't in many clubs unfortunately, but I was a vice pres for the Table Tennis Club. (They don't look at how many different clubs you are in, but how INVOLVED you are in them.)

I'm sure your resume looks better than mine, but I put forth a lot of effort into getting into the Academy. If you really want this, you can do it. I also visited the AFA last year, I think that helped show them a desire to attend school there.

What does your resume look like?
 
Griffin64 said:
Well I guess I should start by introducing myself. I am a soon to be high school senior and a hopeful for the Air force academy class of 2016(entering 2012). I think I am a fairly strong candidate overall but my one weakness would be academics. I know that the prep school is designed to bring people who are academically lacking up to speed. So my questions are:

How many people each year get into the prep school?
How many of them are enlisted/ recruited athletes?

Any advice or help would be much appreciated. Oh and if you ever went into the prep school would you mind posting your stats for me to get a better idea.
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I think Augustus gave you some good feedback. You really need to consider a prep school if you feel you are lagging academically, USAFA is very challenging academically, this year is going to be more competitive than ever. My DS did not have a particularly high GPA, remember that the Academy will recalculate your GPA, so a 3.x or 4.x from your high school will be something else when you become a candidate. But ACT/SAT do provide a level measure and can make a big difference, I am fairly convinced that the 30+ ACT is what got my DS into USAFA. Good Luck!
 
Augustus- Thanks for the stats. here are mine.
GPA is about a 3.2 (i was not very focused during my sophomore year)
ACT English:25
ACT Math:26
ACT Reading:32 (the only one that I don't have to worry about)
ACT Science: 25

I should letter for the 4th time this spring in Boys Track and Field Shot put.

I currently am working for the local YMCA as a camp counselor but for the previous summers I was helping my dad with his home business.

I am very involved in boy scouts and I am an Eagle scout

falconfamily- Thanks for the encouragement. I plan on taking every ACT I can while working on each subject one by one
 
"Fifth Year" is a year after High School at a private Prep School (not SA Prep) to work on academics and reapplying to a SA with new grades in deficient areas and new SAT ACT. If qualified and recommended the student may receive financial assistance (for Naval Academy provided by The Naval Foundation) through the SA's commensurate programs.
 
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That sounds pretty cool. But I don't think that would be an option for me. I would more than likely have to go to an instate college, because of the price.
 
AF6872 said:
"Fifth Year" is a year after High School at a private Prep School (not SA Prep) to work on academics and reapplying to a SA with new grades in deficient areas and new SAT ACT. If qualified and recommended the student may receive financial assistance (for Naval Academy provided by The Naval Foundation) through the SA's commensurate programs.
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Never heard the "fifth year" terminology used nor only in conjunction with private prep schools. Are you attempting to establish a new vocabulary here?
 
Check out the Maritime Academys. Depending upon where you live you may get instate tuition and their courses mostly mirror first year SA. They also have ROTC, SIP and PLC for commission programs. "Fifth Year" or PG is used to discribe those students leaving High School and attending a Prep School for one extra year. Navy Foundation Scholarship Program is a good example. Usually for academic reasons to boost their college qualificatins but many athletes spend another year working on academics and getting "BIGGER and FASTER". There are many prep schools that allow this and many that do not.

http://www.ehow.com/info_8093364_fifthyear-prep-schools.html

http://www.admissionsquest.com/~Res...D/32/ArticleTypeID/5/Topic/post-graduate-year

It is another option. Both "fifth" and "year" are in the dictionary and not part of a new vocabulary. Have been to many schools that have "Fifth Year" students playing in their sport programs (Choate, Westminster, Kent, Gunnery) and a lot that don't allow it (Taft, St.George's, Brooks, Governor's).
 
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I was referring specifically to the SAs and your attempt to differentiate Foundation from NAPS. I am relativerly certain that CGO and Admissions does not recognize this differentation.
 
Never said they were different just that fifth year might be another avenue toward admission. I am sure the Candidate Admission Office looks at both Foundation fifth year students and NAPS graduates as the same just without the military background learned at NAPS. Outside of these sponsored programs fifth year without sponsorship may also work to improve a candidates prospects. Then again the candidate may choose to attend college for the next year. Their choice but just another option.
 
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I was 3Q'd this past year but did not have a nom, so I am self prepping at Northwestern Prep (the premiere Fifth year prep school for academy bound students). Unfortunately I was over qualified to receive scholarship, but the academy still looks more favorably on prep schools versus other colleges when it comes to reapplication, so that is why I chose to attend! Even with scholarships, a prepster still has to pay about half tuition at every Prep School except for the SA Prep Schools. Unfortunately the use of the SA prep schools has been cut back to pretty much recruited athletes and prior enlisted candidates (with a few exceptions). So keep trying your best to beef up your Academics and hopefully something will work out for the both of us! Good luck!
 
A lot of suppositions here. What do you base them on?
WKSLP said:
I was 3Q'd this past year but did not have a nom, so I am self prepping at Northwestern Prep (the premiere Fifth year prep school for academy bound students). Unfortunately I was over qualified to receive scholarship, but the academy still looks more favorably on prep schools versus other colleges when it comes to reapplication, so that is why I chose to attend! Even with scholarships, a prepster still has to pay about half tuition at every Prep School except for the SA Prep Schools. Unfortunately the use of the SA prep schools has been cut back to pretty much recruited athletes and prior enlisted candidates (with a few exceptions). So keep trying your best to beef up your Academics and hopefully something will work out for the both of us! Good luck!
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Mongo said:
A lot of suppositions here.
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I agree with Mongo.

  1. "the premiere Fifth year prep school for academy bound students" - Certainly the most popular destination for USAFA Falcons, in past years anyway. But popularity does not necessarily equate to being the premiere prep school. Popularity is driven by many factors and quality (premierality if such a word exists) may or may not be one of the drivers.
  2. "the academy still looks more favorably on prep schools versus other colleges when it comes to reapplication" - From my reading of MANY posts, it is clear that USAFA Admissions looks more favorably on Falcon Foundation prepsters. In fact it has been often observed that an appointment is theirs to lose. However, I don't see any evidence to indicate that self-preps have any advantage over ROTC participants or just plain reapplying candidates that are in college.
  3. "Even with scholarships, a prepster still has to pay about half tuition at every Prep School except for the SA Prep Schools." - This depends on the prep school. In the case of NWP, Falcons pay only about 25% of the NWP tuition and then 100% of the tuition for the spring semester at a local junior college.
  4. "the use of the SA prep schools has been cut back to pretty much recruited athletes and prior enlisted candidates (with a few exceptions)" - Posts on these forums generally support the position that SA Prep schools are largely populated by prior enlisted and athletes. However, there have also been SA Prepsters that are in other groups such as diversity. The commonality appears to be an issue with their academics. I don't think that this is a cut back since the SA Prep Schools were intended for prior enlisted candidates that required academic support and refreshing in their bid for an Academy appointment.
 
Blackbird said:
I agree with Mongo.

  1. "the premiere Fifth year prep school for academy bound students" - Certainly the most popular destination for USAFA Falcons, in past years anyway. But popularity does not necessarily equate to being the premiere prep school. Popularity is driven by many factors and quality (premierality if such a word exists) may or may not be one of the drivers.
  2. "the academy still looks more favorably on prep schools versus other colleges when it comes to reapplication" - From my reading of MANY posts, it is clear that USAFA Admissions looks more favorably on Falcon Foundation prepsters. In fact it has been often observed that an appointment is theirs to lose. However, I don't see any evidence to indicate that self-preps have any advantage over ROTC participants or just plain reapplying candidates that are in college.
  3. "Even with scholarships, a prepster still has to pay about half tuition at every Prep School except for the SA Prep Schools." - This depends on the prep school. In the case of NWP, Falcons pay only about 25% of the NWP tuition and then 100% of the tuition for the spring semester at a local junior college.
  4. "the use of the SA prep schools has been cut back to pretty much recruited athletes and prior enlisted candidates (with a few exceptions)" - Posts on these forums generally support the position that SA Prep schools are largely populated by prior enlisted and athletes. However, there have also been SA Prepsters that are in other groups such as diversity. The commonality appears to be an issue with their academics. I don't think that this is a cut back since the SA Prep Schools were intended for prior enlisted candidates that required academic support and refreshing in their bid for an Academy appointment.
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Oops. My comments were USNA specific. From the USNA forum, it appears that WKLSP, or his son, whoever he choses to be on a particular day, is prepping for USNA.

NWP is hardly the USNA primary or premier prep school. Most go to NMMI or MMI.

USNA specifically states that they desire reapplying students to attend a four year college and take courses comparable to Plebe year.

USNA Foundation scholarships are needs based. I have seen the gamut from basically nothing to nearly full tuition, room, and board.

NAPS, in order to prevent NCAA sanctions, is limited to about 27% of midshipman candidates being recruited athletes. However, since they must all play sports, this is not to prevent NAPS coaches recruiting players from the general student body and then they go on to play at USNA. Only 40-50 or so prior enlisted attend NAPS annually. As you can see, this does not add up to "pretty much" all.

Again, USNA specific.
 
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Mongo said:
Again, USNA specific.
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No, my oops as my response is obviously USAFA specific.

But as things turn out, I think that the OP is reapplying to both USNA and USAFA. So hopefully the OP as well as others will find the info helpful. . .
 
Yeah sorry for the confusion between my mom and I. We both use the forum on the same name. I realize that I made many suppositions, but I was told this by others (some of who were rather liable sources). I am actually re applying to both USAF and USNA along with applying for the first time to USMMA and USMA. So that is why my mom or I have many posts on many different threads.
 
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