Question about the "qualified but no vacancy" letter

DS got the TWE letter today telling him he's qualified but there are no more appointments available. However, the letter says he will be notified immediately if he's chosen for a vacancy if another candidate declines. Do all these letters say this? I hadn't heard anyone mention that before and was just wondering. I know there is a .0000000001% chance of getting in if someone declines but was curious. Is this the so called "wait list"? Best of luck to everyone who got the BFEs!

That is the same letter we received last year and then 2 days later received notice of Falcon Foundation. Falcon paperwork also states you can withdraw from that program if you get a late appointment.

Thanks Falcon 15! We will cross our fingers.

I haven't received anything in the mail and my online status has not been changed (still Candidate/Complete). Is this a good thing? I don't know what to think of it because many have been receiving either BFEs or TWEs lately...

Yeah, that's the same boat I'm in at the moment.

Greyhaired mom, we know my son will get the QNV letter (per counselor) but have not seen it yet. When I do, I'll look at the wording to see if it is different from yours. BTW, the counselor said Falcon and Prep will be decided the LAST week of April this year. More waiting! Also, the portals will not be updated immediately, they are catching up on those later. Hope this helps.

I have seen here that posters are saying there are 2 types of letters out there, and the wording varies slightly.

It may be true. If there are 2 different types, and one says qualified, and the other doesn't say qualified, it might be a tell.

Now I won't guess which one means what, but instead I am throwing out a theory. One could mean they may be offered a prep or falcon slot. AGAIN GUESSING.

Here's why, the prep does not exist for the 3 Q kid from an an academic POV. It exists for the candidate that may NOT be academically qualified, thus, they may get the TWE that says no vacancy with no reference to qualified, because academically they were not qualified.

JUST SPECULATING! Flieger would probably be the one to clarify the issue.

Thanks Tailwind Angel for the info. Yes, please let everyone know the wording of your letter when you get it. Pima, thanks for your input as well. You always have great insight. I wasn't too familiar with the Falcon scholarship so I looked on the internet last night and I don't think my son qualifies. He's in IB and had ACT scores of 30-32 with a GPA of 3.7/4.0++. Unfortunately I think he's in the no man's land of not in the AFA and not qualified for the prep school or Falcon scholarship (if I'm understanding it correctly). Best of luck to everyone today but if you do get the "no vacancy" letter, let us know what what it says.

We got the TWE too

Hi there, my son got a TWE yesterday and he had quite a good record too. This is a very rough year to get into USAFA. I wish the best of luck to all of you; there are many ways to success and many ways to become an officer in the Air Force if that is your dream.

My son's wording for the TWE sounds familiar to the others who got the qualified but no vacancy letter. They did put in bold print, "while the selection process is essentially complete, we will notify you immediately if you are chosen to fill a vacancy because another candidate declined an appointment."

Anyway, thank you all for posting and keeping us entertained during this stressful time. God bless!

Greyhairedmom said:

Thanks Tailwind Angel for the info. Yes, please let everyone know the wording of your letter when you get it. Pima, thanks for your input as well. You always have great insight. I wasn't too familiar with the Falcon scholarship so I looked on the internet last night and I don't think my son qualifies. He's in IB and had ACT scores of 30-32 with a GPA of 3.7/4.0++. Unfortunately I think he's in the no man's land of not in the AFA and not qualified for the prep school or Falcon scholarship (if I'm understanding it correctly). Best of luck to everyone today but if you do get the "no vacancy" letter, let us know what what it says.

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Clarification on Falcons, they are the ones that are in between. High SAT or ACT scores good GPA's and various reasons why their WCS may not have been high enough. Several including my DS were act composite 31 with sat 1350 or higher (M/CR). what you see are one score may not have been high enough such as high Math SAT but low Math ACT or maybe they did OK on CFA but did not get above averages in all categories. Key points with tshi group, 100 or less are offered the slots (this year there were approx 90) and they are pilot qualified (impt point). Hope this helps and again this is a wonderful golden opportunity for anyone provided the chance.

Best of Luck to everyone as they continue that soul searching as we experienced last year.

DS was offered Falcon FS last year because although he had over 30 comp ACT, 4.0 GPA, top in his class, tons of leadership/EC/Sports, maxed most of CFE, his CR ACT score was below the Academy cutoff. He turned down the Falcon scholarship because he did rcv BFE to USNA, and is now finishing his Plebe year, but he was honored to be considered for it, and it was a tough decision for him, as USAFA was his first choice SA, and he knew what an amazing program it is.

We are muddying the waters now.

A 31 ACT is a high score.

AFA clearly states 24 V ACT or 490 CR SAT are not considered competitive.

Many candidates do not take the ACT. A 31 ACT is not like the SAT, they avg the score. If they got a 36 on Math and 25 on V, their score would be 31. There are 4 parts. Now play the game 36 M. 36 S, 24 V, 26 W. The fact is that 24 make them non-competitive, but they would have had a 31.

The AFA is the only SA they states mins for V/CR.

IF you have a 31, and got 33 M/Sci and 29 V/WR to get a 31, you are not going to be seen as a candidate for Prep.

Same if you have a 1300 SAT superscore.

Prep is not for runner ups re: AFA.

Pound that into your cranium. Academically qualified on the high end will not be given this chance.

Flame me, hate me. call me Janie Raincloud, but that is how it works. Te candidate with a 2100 SAT, 9 APs and a 3.75 uwgpa will not be offered IMPO this opportunity.

The candidate with a 1900 SAT, 7 APs and a 3.75 uwgpa is in a better position.

Greyhairedmom said:

Thanks Tailwind Angel for the info. Yes, please let everyone know the wording of your letter when you get it. Pima, thanks for your input as well. You always have great insight. I wasn't too familiar with the Falcon scholarship so I looked on the internet last night and I don't think my son qualifies. He's in IB and had ACT scores of 30-32 with a GPA of 3.7/4.0++. Unfortunately I think he's in the no man's land of not in the AFA and not qualified for the prep school or Falcon scholarship (if I'm understanding it correctly). Best of luck to everyone today but if you do get the "no vacancy" letter, let us know what what it says.

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My son went to NWP last fall and the place was filled with kids just like your son. Most all who went there were direct entry qualified, a very impressive group of young men and women. Is he PQ (pilot qualified)? With few exceptions Falcon is for PQ, direct entry level kids. And, a note about the USAFA Prep school, yes it's for primarily the non-Q candidates, BUT, for the most part, is for recruited athletes, diversity, and prior enlisted. FYI. None of this is set in stone, of course, and never is, just what I have heard.

Pima said:

call me Janie Raincloud,

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Janie Raincloud.

Sorry, I couldn't resist--that is a cool name.

Pretty good explanation on how the 24 verbal fits in! That was sort of my DD's situation, but with math, her high composite didn't really matter; it was the 24 they looked at.

Julie86 said:

They did put in bold print, "while the selection process is essentially complete, we will notify you immediately if you are chosen to fill a vacancy because another candidate declined an appointment."

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And they may do just that. I HIGHLY recommend for all of you with this letter who are even remotely still considering attending usafa that you do not slack off on your physical conditioning. I did, way back when, thinking I was going to be ROTC and not until the end of the summer, never imagining I'd actually get an appointment offer. I went 5 weeks without conditioning, and when I got that call to attend, and had 24 hours to decide before they offered the slot to the next kid, there was no time to get back into shape. BE READY. There have been a lot of declines this year, many due to the fact that the AF is sending some officers straight to UAVs out of pilot training, bypassing "real" cockpits, and many believe they have a better chance of flying jets out of USNA. Keep working on those pull ups and pushups and run distance to get your cardio strong for that high altitude!

Editing to add: I got a VERY late appointment offer. June!!!!!!

Hi folks!

Okay...maybe I can offer a little clarification...at least, I'll try.

First, the letters. Don't get too wrapped up in the wording. The only thing that really means anything is this: did it say you were "qualified but no openings" or "not qualified."

If found "not qualified" I'm sorry to say, that's it. If found "qualified but no openings" that means you did it all correctly, they just ran out of space. And this year, with the reduced class coming in, that's happening to a LOT of amazing candidates!

I have several that I fear for...last year, ALL of them would have appointments in hand by now. Today? Not one of them has an appointment in hand, or if they do, they've not called to tell me. So I'm like ALL the parents here: nervous, worried, etc.

Now...Prep School and Falcon Foundation.

Prep School...the "high end candidates" are mostly NOT going to be considered for this. The reasons have been posted time and again and I won't bore you. Rather, I'll say that the "high end candidates" are the ones that are usually looked at by the Falcon Foundation.

FF likes to find those candidates that are 3Q...reallly strong, but might be missing in just one small area; typically either the SAT or ACT. FYI...I was one of those back a few decades ago.

USAFA doesn't pick the FF folks, rather the FF does! Of course, I'm sure ("they" won't say) USAFA/RRS is there with the FF folks, making recommendations, helping select, etc. It's a group that is rather hard to learn much about; and they prefer it that way.

Anyway...I hope this helps.

Oh, one more thing. Someone mentioned that they thought since one set of SAT scores weren't as high as the ACT, that this could harm the candidate. NOT TRUE.

USAFA takes either/both scores...and does their "thing" with them. At the end, ONE of the tests will score higher points for the candidate and THAT is the test that will be used in computing the WCS. We ALO's can see on our webpage which is being used for the candidate's evaluation.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83

Flieger83 thanks for the great explanation! DS was pretty somber this morning so we want to help him move on to Plan B in a positive way. He is pilot qualified. We'll ride it out and see what happens. Flyerdreamer, good advice for everyone on the physical conditioning! Thanks for the info everyone.

Thank you Steve!

The two categories can be confusing and probably if you have not been involved in the Falcon Foundation makes it worse. There are so few Falcons that it is almost a forgotten or misunderstood group. I know last year we desperately were looking for info once DS was offered the opportunity. As I have indicated on another post, there are several Falcons on tshi website or Falcon parents who would be happy to help if your DS/DD is offered teh opportunity.

Thanks again Steve!

Best wishes for all!

Julie86 said:

Hi there, my son got a TWE yesterday and he had quite a good record too. This is a very rough year to get into USAFA. I wish the best of luck to all of you; there are many ways to success and many ways to become an officer in the Air Force if that is your dream.

My son's wording for the TWE sounds familiar to the others who got the qualified but no vacancy letter. They did put in bold print, "while the selection process is essentially complete, we will notify you immediately if you are chosen to fill a vacancy because another candidate declined an appointment."

Anyway, thank you all for posting and keeping us entertained during this stressful time. God bless!

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Hi, we got the TWE today. Same wording as above................FYI

for those of you who received the TWE, did your online status change? I am yet to receive an envelope or have my status changed...