Do You Think I Have a Decent Chance?

FlyingFuzz

5-Year Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2012
Messages
222
Hello all,

I'm a USAFA 2017 hopeful, my applications are in and done so now I am just playing the waiting game. The waiting has my mind playing tricks on me- sometimes I think I've got a great shot and other times I think I'm a lost cause, so I want some of your opinions and if you think I could have reasonable expectations of acceptance or whether I should accept the fact that I am a general long-shot. Here's my stats:

Academic:

-School is a fully accredited online public charter school, I think they have sent one student to USAFA before.

-GPA: 4.0 unweighted; 4.33 weighted
-Class Rank: 2/297
-AP classes: 10th grade- AP Physics (5 on exam), AP Calc AB (4 on exam); 11th grade- AP Eng. language and comp. (5 on exam), AP Calc BC (5 overall and on AB subsection); 12th grade- currently taking AP Bio and AP Stats, this maxes out the math and science at my school
-Honors Courses: World History, US History, US Gov., English 9/10/12, Chemistry, Precalc.
-Other courses include 2 years of both latin and spanish, plus other miscellaneous courses to fulfill graduation requirements.
-National Merit Scholarship commended student
-SAT: 690 W, 800 Math, 690 CR (one test)

Extracurricular:

-Five years at an athletic academy (I'm a prospective student-athlete and have been offered an official visit for USAFA, but I'm not the highest on the coach's recruiting list); have won awards 7 of 8 semesters so far, including, Most Outstanding Commuter (twice), Most Professional Attitude, Sportsmanship Award, Physical Fitness Award (thrice); this is the bulk of my EC time as practice is 4-5 hours per day 5-6 days per week. Unfortunately state rules prohibit me from playing on a HS team. Our academy has sent a couple of USAFA, one was winningest of all time in the sport and the other is currently co-captain of team (is a C2C I think).

-Extracurricular math program (done worldwide)- Was first at my center to complete the program and when I finished was ranked top 50 out of 10,000+ in North America

-Coach three young players in my sport, I am responsible for their syllabus as well as instruction

-Volunteer in library weekly for two hours per week

-Missions trip to Shell, Ecuador

-Co-manage (with one other person) a club/group of about 135 people; aeronautics related; been going on for about 2 years

Other Info:
CFA: BB Throw- 76'
Pull-Ups-13
Shuttle Run- 8.4
Sit-ups- 95 (max)
Push-ups- 69
Mile Run- 5:20 (max)

DODMERB- Qualified (preliminary pilot)

I know my ALO wrote me a good rec. and I think the others were pretty good as well.

I think that's everything- whew! Please let me know what you think... be brutally honest! :biggrin:

FlyingFuzz
 
:thumb:Flying Fuzz;

Your stats are impressive and look good from a lay-persons perspective. However, there are no guarantees in life... You seem like a sharp high-schooler, so I am probably preaching to the choir to encourage you to have a plan b-c-d.

Based on statistics I have seen from each of the SA's, there have been other candidates with similar stats that did not get an offer.

Best of luck to you!
 
Pretty good stats. I'm glad this place didn't exist when I applied to colleges, or, after reading those scores, I would have felt pretty bad applying for my schools. But then, when I was in high school Pluto was a planet.


That said, what the heck is "Most Outstanding Commuter"?!?!
 
Welcome to the rollercoaster, baby. You'll have ups and downs throughout the process and throughout your career. You have great stats, but the issue is who you are competing against. Much depends on how competitive your state/congressional district is. Honestly no one on these forums can guarantee whether you'll get in or not. Satisfy yourself by doing the best you can do and leave it in the hands of the Admissions Board.

Have you done your best academically? CHECK.
Have you done your best in the area of ECs? CHECK
Did you give your all on the CFA? CHECK
Do you have a good rapport with your ALO? CHECK
Have you applied to all nomination sources that are available to you? CHECK

You’ve done your best. Now keep up with your grades and your athletics. Update your file as additional awards come in. Hurry up and wait; Appointments come out between now and April.

Best wishes. :thumb:
 
Fuzz, my sons graduated from a cyber charter school too, and it is good to see the USAFA recognizes that you can receive a great education someplace besides your local brick and mortar.

Might want to get that writing score up just a bit, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. Would it be possible for you to dually enroll at a local comm college or university for more math/science?

What's your sport?
 
Academically you are RIGHT UP there with everyone else...that being said...my son had similar academic background/scores etc...the "other" items he had was Class President 3 years class of 500+ ...Eagle Scout...Varsity Football/ 3 years State Academic All State team/varsity Track and active in church activities...the SA looks for "well rounded" applicants...I would stress more emphasis on the extracurricular areas... he was a Senatorial Principal nominee and they shared with me that the thing that separated him from everyone else was that he was 3 years Class President...other applicants had VERY similar credentials....All State athlete, high academic scores, Eagle Scout, Class Leadership positions...he beat out the other applicants just because of his ONE extra year as a elected Class President, most of them had only one year or two:smile:..so again...its all a matter of who you're going up against...and what the nominating source has to compare you with. Apply for ALL the service academies....matter a fact...Coast Guard Academy is a overlooked SA...you don't need a nomination...just apply..your academics by itself would be competitive by itself. :thumb: good luck and I wish you the best in pursuing your dreams.
 
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The lack of a Congressional nomination requirement at CGA means you are not going to have the safety net Great Wall due to geographic quotas.

The numbers at CGA would hardly suggest it's a "look over" school, where the entire academy is smaller than a single DI academy class.

I found the process at CGA "scarier" than USNA... CGA let me sweet it... USNA gave me an LOA.
 
I meant "overlooked" :wink:... son got in USCGA...also USNA but dreams of flying Fighters...not to say Navy was what I thought he was leaning towards...
 
@EagleDriver- I am aware that student gov is a pretty big thing, but my school does not have any student government...not even a news publication. The ECA's that I've been doing I've been doing since before I even started thinking about college...I do them because I enjoy them, not because I knew I would need it for college. My school environment necessitates me doing everything on my own. I guess I'll just need to hope for an admissions board in a good mood when they discuss my file. Also, I'm interested in space and missile ops and a couple of other AF only fields so that sort of limits me to just USAFA... I have no desire for any of the other services even though my whole family has been Navy plus one marine. I'm gettin' the boot around here! :shake:

@fencersmother- It's nice to see someone else from the cyber background. IMO my school curriculum is more challenging than at the local HS. Our athletic academy is out in the tulies so the nearest college is almost 1.5 hours away one-way. I don't really see the need for extra math and science though as I won't have maxed out until the end of this year. That is what I meant. As far as my sport goes, I'll keep that to myself just for privacy reasons until I get to know this place a little bit better. It's nothing personal, I'm just wary about what sort of identifying info I put out. You should be able to guess by my user name though! :thumb:

@LineInTheSand- At my academy we have a 50-50 split of boarders and commuters. Boarders actually live on the academy grounds, commuters do not. We do everything that the boarders do (including 5:45am practice- ugh!) except eat and sleep there. Of the commuters, I was voted most outstanding. That is the award.

On a side note, USAFA is way behind the game as far as recruiting for my sport goes- WP and USNA already have 3 and 2 commitements respectively where as USAFA has none- men or women. It would seem that USAFA is being stingy on the LOA's and appointments this early in the game.

Thank you everyone for the responses and advice- you guys are great!

FlyingFuzz
 
Thank you for the explanations...if and when you get an interview...you may want to explain that about lack of student government if they ask etc...I would however highly recommend applying for the other SA's...here's why...if you don't get USAFA but get WP or USNA...each SA usually have exchange commissions if a cadet from one SA wants to be a an Officer of another branch. So there's always a chance to be commissioned to a branch of service even though you may not be a SA graduate of that branch...just my .05 cents...:rolleyes::thumb:
 
@LineInTheSand- At my academy we have a 50-50 split of boarders and commuters. Boarders actually live on the academy grounds, commuters do not. We do everything that the boarders do (including 5:45am practice- ugh!) except eat and sleep there. Of the commuters, I was voted most outstanding. That is the award.

I see. I live outside of DC but travel to the city for work each day. I'm a commuter and I use the Metro. In my mind I was hoping I might get something for using the Metro (besides inconsistent travel times)... your explanation makes more sense.
 
would however highly recommend applying for the other SA's...here's why...if you don't get USAFA but get WP or USNA...each SA usually have exchange commissions if a cadet from one SA wants to be a an Officer of another branch.

I highly recommend against choosing a school if your only hope is being able to cross-commission to another service.
 
Flyingfuzz's sport

Tennisrecruiting.net shows a set of three star California twins verbally committing to the AFA Womens Tennis Team today.
 
Things like student government are good, but they are not some sort of litmus test. I know plenty of grads who were not involved in student gov. That said, they were involved in other organizations where they showed leadership potential. THAT is part of what the academies want to see.

Also, cross-commissioning is relatively rare. Each year, a few cadets (single digits) get to cross. Don't count on it happening.
 
Ahh, the hazed mind of a middle-aged mother. Of course, I was commenting on the CR and not the writing score. :redface:
 
@flyingfuzz. Your scores look solid. You communication skills (writing) on this forum shows maturity. Kudos.

If I was able to place a bet on you, I'd double down.:thumb: The only "weakness" that I see is sports leadership roles (a.k.a. captains). If the USAFA doesn't pick you, it's their loss.

Don't expect to feel the "love" with your accolades. My prediction is expect a nomination and you will be sweating it out till late March like my DS. The late notice is a bandwidth thing; the Academy is busy crunching the numbers.


Good Luck!
 
@machlove- You guessed my sport- congrats. I hadn't seen the commitments to USAFA by the twins yet; thanks for the update!

I'm of the mind that it's best not to try and hope for cross-commissioning because if the worst comes to worst, the last thing I want to happen is for me to be stuck in a branch where I am unhappy and my performance affects those around me.

Thanks so much for the answers and insight everyone!

Regards,
FlyingFuzz
 
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