I fully agree that CAP is just one of the activities that will make your academy application complete, just like participating in Boy Scouts, and many other activities. In talking with different ALO's, most gave only a slight advantage to CAP versus Boy Scouts. I suggest doing whichever one you enjoy the most, and is closer in terms of driving distance. I drove my son to CAP meetings and it was over an hour drive one way, so it was a bit of a commitment, and he frequently was unable to attend many activities due to high school sports and other activities, and getting his private pilot's license. Additionally, there was an attitude at his squadron that maximum CAP participation and rank was the ticket to USAFA. However, five CAP cadets in his squadron (including my son) applied to USAFA summer seminar, and my son was the only one to get invited, also all five completed their application to USAFA and only my son was given candidate status. Please don't take it that I'm knocking CAP, he learned a lot there, but way too much emphasis on drill, drill, drill, at his squadron, and way too much attitude that CAP was extremely important in getting a USAFA appointment. If you choose CAP, make sure and try to get in their summer programs. Also, if your child doesn't seem to care for CAP all that much, don't take it that well maybe USAFA or the military isn't their calling. My son did not care for CAP all that much, since it wasn't much fun literally running off the football field and jumping in the car so we could get to CAP on a Tuesday night. However, he stayed as committed to CAP as he could. Probably, the one thing that made CAP worth it for him was attending the CAP SUPT-FC summer course at Columbus AFB. He loved it! After attending SUPT-FC he was more determined than ever to attend USAFA. My son has a little over a month and he will have competed his first year at USAFA, it seems like an eternity since we dropped him off on I-day!