- Joined
- Oct 10, 2007
- Messages
- 3,181
Looks like all of you had some really great choices. Congratulations again to everyone!
"Bust" would have definitely sucked.
I'm not boasting on my son, but I've said this many times on this and other military forums. It is imperative that you apply to other schools. Almost 10,000 applications per year come in for the Air Force Academy. Of which, 1700 will be offered an appointment. And of which, 1300-1400 will actually accept it and walk in the door. A person not getting accepted most times has NOTHING to do with them as an applicant. It can simply be too many people applying. Too many from his state/district; too many all together.
Then; what happens if you don't get an appointment? What happens if you get an appointment and for whatever reason you change your mind. MORE REALISTICALLY; what happens if you've got that magical appointment, and you get hurt prior to graduating high school and are no longer qualified? What happens if you make it to basic training and decide you don't like it; get hurt there and sent home; or other things????
All you future applicants reading this; this year's applicants and well as last year's will tell you that I have nothing but the utmost respect for you. The air force means so much to me. The fact that you are willing to serve your country can NEVER receive enough appreciation. Willing to serve and apply puts you into a tight family. And as part of that family, I love you all. But with all your passion and determination, don't make a mistake and not apply to other schools. My son basically had a guaranteed chance at an appointment. Meaning, very few people from our state applying; 4.0 gpa; class rank #1; IB program; Mult-Varsity sports captain; Killer ACT/SAT; presidential, rep, and senator nominations; application 100% completed July 19th (According to USAFA, 1st completed in the country); Military Brat, so he knew what he was getting into; etc... He went on to receive his appointment the 1st week of November.
We talked about it and he still put in applications for 5 other universities. He was accepted to all 5 universities. 3 of them we went through the scholarship applications. 2 of the 3 he received a 100% full ride. The 3rd he received a 50% ride. The other 2 we didn't go through the scholarship portion. We even went as far as making some soft reservations for dorms and registration. We did this even though we were 110% positive that as long as he would make it to the academy, he WAS going. But we had to be realistic. As an athlete, he could have gotten injured. (He even dropped out of Spring sports (Soccer team hated him for that) just so he wouldn't risk injury. He could have had an accident. There are so many what ifs; EVEN after receiving and ACCEPTING the appointment. And because BCT is done the 1st week of August, if something happened and he couldn't finish, didn't want it, got hurt, etc... there was still 3 weeks prior to most traditional schools starting.
Now some will decide to attend a Community College if they don't get accepted, and re-apply to USAFA again next year. That's cool. At least it's a backup. Personally; if you're good enough to get accepted to the academy, you're good enough to get accepted to some of the best colleges in the country. That is what you ALL should be applying to. There's a lot of money out there for college. So please, apply to some colleges along with the academies. I am one of the most positive people you'll probably ever meat. Most people consider me the "Eternal Optimist". But WANTING SOMETHING BAD ENOUGH can only take you so far. Sometimes, you don't get the appointment. And even if you do, "Crap" happens. Something might come up. Please; at least have your local state university as a backup. For some states, that's easy. For others; like Texas; you can't just walk over to Austin in August and say you want to go to school. PLEASE!!!!! Have a backup plan. Obviously, this is directed towards those applying for the class of 2014. Best of luck to all of you. mike......