USAFA Chances?

JestFutureFalcon

JestFutureFalcon

Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2015
Messages
158
Hey so im wondering what my chances are of getting into USAFA. My Act scores are
Composite 31
Reading 32
Math 28
Science 34
English 32
Writing 08
My Sat aren't as good with a composite of 1750
My CFA scores are
Basketball Ball - 75
Shuttle - 9.1 seconds
Pullups - 15
Push-ups - max
Sit-ups - max
Mile -max
My leadership roles are/ wereAfjrotc group deputy commander, afjrotc pt officer, 2nd ops commander, flight leader, color guard commander, drill team commander and pt ncoic(first year of rotc then I was promoted to officer 2nd year.) I've got plenty of service hours (>120) and ribbons along with 2 national awards. I am ranked 2 in my class of ~ 120 people (but our school is really low grade). I am also member of Phi Theta Kappa and Sr Beta Club. My gpa is 3.79 and ~4.6 unweighted. I am dual enrolled at a local community college and run track and field and played 2 years of soccer. Im mostly worried about my below average sat score and my shuttle run time. How can I improve my shuttle run? Any other advice would be greatly appreciated
 
Forgot to mention im a senior next year and have been labeled competitive applicant in my application portal
 
Jest, about the best assessment of your standing is the fact that USAFA has deemed you competitive. Just keep going forward step by step in your application/nomination process. Your numbers (CFA & academics) look good. You should continue to take the ACT over and over to get the highest scores possible. They are good enough to be competitive, but you want them to be as high as possible. Continue to focus on getting that math ACT up higher. A little research will show you the median scores of USAFA appointees.
Another thought: Have you/are you going to play a varsity sport? This helps with conditioning, leadership and team concept. You should also research this forum for similar threads on chances of getting in/getting an appointment. There are so many unknowns concerning those whom you are competing with in receiving an appointment & nomination. Keep up the good work !
 
You look competitive.

Are your sports high school varsity, or club?
Keep working on your ACT math and GPA. Strive for over 30 on the math section, and go for 4.0 for your remaining semesters.
Your JROTC looks like a strong point for ECs (although academics are weighted much more heavily).
 
So should I focus more on ACT or try to get my SAT up? Im studying for the sat atm but will gladly focus on act (me and the sat don't get along). My sports are varsity level we don't have any clubs in our community or really any EC organizations like Civil Air Patrol that's why my main EC is Jrotc(also because leading the program is something I enjoy) so I was a little worried that I didn't have a lot of club leadership positions.
 
That's a good thing that your sport is a varsity sport. Is there a possibility of making captain ? It would be a plus if you could.
I think I would focus solely on the ACT since you do better on it and your scores are already pretty competitive. Once again, keep working on raising that math sccore. Also, you do not need both ACT & SAT, just one or the other.
Raimius also makes a good point concerning your GPA. Finishing out your HS with 4.0 in your remaining semesters is only going to help.
 
Dang I already sent both scores in... Will it affect me any that I sent low sat with high act? And I was captain on soccer team and co captain on track team since I was in charge of distance runners. My unweighted GPA has been really hard to pull up because I take college courses instead of normal high school classes and I get an occasional B+. At the beginning of the year I was at 3.72 and it only went up to 3.79. My last few semesters have classes like Anatomy and physiology 2 and College Chemistry so I'll definitely have to work hard. I also heard that the number of people who graduate and go to college out of my high school plays a role in evaluation of my academics. This is not so great because our school is an F school most of the time. Will this make a huge difference? I mean I actually started dual enrollment so I could get a decent head start for college, and don't even take any high school classes
 
You can keep sending updated scores. . .

Your school profile is taken into account. USAFA understands that there are many different calibers of high schools across the US. It helps 'level the playing field'. That is pretty much all the info there is about that, the exact metrics used to rack and stack schools are not publicly released.
 
Don't worry about having lesser SAT/ACT scores sent. USAFA only takes the best ones you submit. That is why people recommend taking them multiple times. Your score can only go up.
 
Don't sweat what is in the past. Focus on being the best 'you' that you can be. Make sure that you include 'fun' things in your schedule as well. While I encourage working on your application package, remember that USAFA is only 4 years of your life. The 5 year commitment, longer with certain jobs, is more important. Be sure to find things you enjoy in order to choose the most appropriate major and become more well- rounded. Also, since you don't know who you are competing against, just do your best academically, physically, and leadershipwise. Don't fret over being 'good enough'. Concentrate on being better than yesterday.

I hope this helped.
 
Of course, you already know the best way to improve your scores is to practice (With the reminder that perfect practice makes perfect).

1750 as a combined CR/M/W SAT score seems exceptionally low to me (for your purpose; for an average person's score, it's slightly above average). I would strongly recommend some intense practice time, study time, and even get some test-prep if available (ask at your Com Col or HS). Extrapolating from your ACT scores, I am assuming it is the Math portion that is holding you back.

You did not tell us where you stand in your HS math program. You are aware, of course, that all USAFA cadets take engineering courses, and earn a BS, even if they major in such "fuzzy" subjects as Foreign Area Studies.
 
You are definitely right about the math. I always struggle on the Last few questions of the ACT. I've been studying and taking practice tests all summer so I feel a bit more confident about the math for the next test date. I struggle a lot on the SAT so I prefer the ACT, but I am also studying for that as well and will be taking all the tests I can between now and deadline for apps. It's to my understanding that a good ACT score is superscored in comparison to the SAT (eg my act scores are converted to sat so they can be compared for best score) so I'm hoping that my next act math will be >30. I know my English and reading portions of the act are way more competitive than my crit reading and writing for sat so I believe admissions will most likely use my act scores. I have taken Algebra 1/2 and geometry w/ trig. In fall I will be taking pre calculus on the college level. I even enrolled in a physics course for next semester too so that I have some preparation for the engineering curriculum at USAFA
 
Don't take this as an excuse to discount the importance of math and science but there are talks of restructuring USAFA's core curriculum in the near future and removing some of the core technical classes specifically. Mostly it's just hearsay, but this was mentioned by one of the generals during a briefing just this last year.
 
That would help encourage more people to try to go to medical school through USAFA. My B and G officer was talking about how the military wants more leaders in military hospitals so less focus on engineering and technical courses would help that imo. He also said that in the past few years the amount of cadets they send to medical school has increased a little so that looks good for me (I want to be a biology major at USAFA or a Chem major at USNA so that I can get into Med school). That being said the percent of the class they send to med school is ridiculously low but still one can dream right?
 
Jest, I would hope that my future doctor does not major in Sociology, no matter where s/he gets his/her UG degree. Lots of science and math in medicine, but I seem to recall that Philosophy majors score highest on MCAT and LSAT, so there you go. I'm still sticking with my complaint against Sociology, and will add in Anthropology for good measure. :)

Don't be afraid of Math, or of the Sciences.
 
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