Chances of AirForce Academy Admission

I'm am curious what everyone thinks about my chances of admission to USAFA. I am a junior, I have a 3.9 unweighted gpa and a 4.069 weighted I am taking 5 honors classes including: AP Chem, Hnrs English, AP U.S History, Pre-calculus, and Physics. I will only take 3 math classes in high school this is due to my school not offering trig and me having skipped a year in math so I took alg.1 in 8th grade but I will take 5 advanced science courses with at least 4 of those being honors 1 being AP and 2 being concurrent college courses. I do have a year of a foreign language. I am the tournament director of the debate team( team captain) as a junior. I will be a 3 year varsity tennis player but will be involved all 4 years . I am also heavily involved in theatre. The show I was the lead in last year won state I'm the lead in the show again this year. I am in the following clubs/ Hnrs societies: FCA( on the leadership board),NHS, Science NHS, international thespian society, national forensics league, prom committee, spirit club, and drama club. I have done over 150 hours of volunteer work at a local hospital and am also on a student council advisory board for the hospital. My PLAN score was a 24 (28 ACT equivalence). Then I scored a 25 on the ACT I'm taking the SAT in Oct. I'm. In the top 10% of my class of 179 my school is a blue ribbon school. I was just wondering what people thought about my chances of getting in are if you have any questions please ask

Let me be the first to reply with the standard answer no one here can tell you what your chances are other than 0% chance if you don't apply.

Now with that out of the way you look to have an impressive resume to me at least but I'm not what counts. By everything you've posted I can take a guess you've done your research on this web site. With that work on the things that you can work on and don't worry about the chances.

Work on taking the SAT and ACT as many time s a you can. Work on getting the highest score you can on both.


Practice the CFA over and over and over again before you take it officially. Can you work in a job or a second sport? It's call padding the resume. Basically look at what you're doing seeing where you feel you're the weakest and improve that area.

Work plan B ROTC make sure you're squared away there.

You're a junior so you have time to make adjustments for AFA less time for ROTC (they only look at freshman to junior year PIMA will correct me if I'm wrong on that).

You'll be fine and keep working at it and always remember to have FUN! If your misserable doing all the things you're doing it just makes it harder.

I agree

Apply for summer seminar and same camp as well if your interested in engineering. Both offered at the academy over the summer.

Apply

On paper, you are a strong candidate. Work on your ACT score, but otherwise remain strong. Next, get on the Academy's radar as early as possible (e.g summer seminar, apply early--by Labor Day of senior year, etc) Continue to work hard and you'll be a very strong candidate period.

Honestly, I would put 0% weight in whatever anybody says regarding chances. We do not know what state you are from, nor what the pool will look like next year.None of us sit on the board,and we all come from different states. I am sure Christcorp sees chances differently than me because of the state in which he resides. I.E. some states spread the wealth, also known as MOCs talking. 1 nomination. Some states can have candidates with 3 nominations due to the competition level.

If you want a more realistic chance answer, than you need to answer what state you are from. Not saying you should place weight into the replies. Just saying the answers maybe different if posters added into the equation you were from CA, TX, NY, FL, VA and your ACT is 25.

I would put weight in what posters are saying regarding your ACT and to have plan B in place.

Boozebin is correct AFROTC scholarship process is much different in several ways.
1.AFA starts off geocentric, your district/state will be your competition at first, and if not appointed from those slates they may decide to send you to the National pool.
~~ AFROTC is national start to finish. IOWS, they don't care if every scholarship awarded is from CA only. If the top 900 candidates are all from CA than that is how it works

2. AFA super scores SAT and ACT. Take it 8 times and if the 5th time was the highest Math, 6th time was highest English, 7th time is highest Science and the 8th time is the highest reading, they will combine all of those different scores to create your super score.
~~ AFROTC is best sitting. No super scoring. The average best sitting ACT for a type 1 is @31. For type 7 it is @29.

3. AFA does not place intended major into the process.
~~ AFROTC awards 80-85% of all scholarships to STEM intended majors.

4. AFA will allow you to update your academic/EC portions of the packet through Feb. of your senior year.
~~ AFROTC only allows the SAT/ACT portion to be updated after the end of your junior year. Any awards, sports, leadership positions, etc are not considered.

The majority of candidates will apply for both, and every year there are posters that get the TWE for AFROTC scholarship, but are picked up for the AFA and vise a verse. The reason why impo is because of how the boards operate differently.

As for your ACT score. You have stated your composite is 25. The AFA, as far as I know is the only SA that states flat out if you have less than a 24E on your ACT you are deemed noncompetitive.

The question becomes for you with a composite of 25, are they across the board 25s or do you have a 22 in English, and 26s in the other 3 subjects?

I have also said earlier, but posted it incorrectly. The SAs do not require at least 2 years of foreign language, but it is recommended. It is jmpo, and with $2.06 you can get a small coffee, but I see this as a weakness in your academic profile. I honestly do not know any college bound kid with just a year of foreign language.
~ The reason I bring that issue up is they will look at your school profile and course curriculum/rigor for selection. How many graduate with only 1 year of foreign language? They look at the rigor of your schedule too. Taking weight training as an elective will be seen differently than taking a foreign language if the majority of your peers have at least 2 or 3 years.
~~~ I know I keep harping on this issue. Sorry, but it is something that I keep thinking most HS kids have 8 classes a year, you have 5 rigorous courses, but what are the other 3?

Pima said:

~~~ I know I keep harping on this issue. Sorry, but it is something that I keep thinking most HS kids have 8 classes a year, you have 5 rigorous courses, but what are the other 3?

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Just as a point of reference, my DD went to an all-honors school. They had 6 periods. I think it depends on the school & the length of the class (1 hour, 50 mins, 45 min classes?)

-- Proud Parent of 2018 USAFA cadet

I appreciate everyone's input on this subject. I do understand that you can't tell me for sure about my chances but I'm sure all of you have a better knowledge of the process and norms than I do. As far as nomination I live in the 4th District of Kansas, so I do not live in a highly populous state such as TX or CA. The school I go to has 7 classes a day (Non-Block Scheduling) only having 7 total classes limits the amount of classes I can take and do too my rigorous five classes scheduling is a pain with the all of those 5 only being offered 1-2 times a day. I think I spent over an hour in my counselor's office just working on my schedule. With this being said the other 2 classes I am taking this semester are Debate and Weights. Next semester those classes become a required health class and Humanities. As far as foreign language is concerned the state of Kansas does not push foreign language as much as other states due so not as many applicants from my state are as likely to have 2 yrs. of foreign language as say CA. I would have the opportunity to take a year of German or possibly another foreign language next year, it wont be 2 years of the same language but it will be 2 years of a foreign language. Do you believe this would be beneficial for me to do. I appreciate any other tips and/or advice anyone could offer about my application or its process.

I forgot to mention in the original post that I most definitely will be applying for summer seminar. Not that it necessarily matters but I will be majoring in chemistry my ultimate goal is to go through the academy and then get the HPSP scholarship. Yes I understand this is incredibly hard to do but being a doctor in the United State Military has been a dream of mine for years. Yes I know there are easier ways to accomplish this but I want the challenge.

Question: one year of foreign language as a junior? I cannot imagine that you will be competitive with just one year of a foreign language (or one year each of two languages). Someone in Kansas is taking four years of French or German or Latin or Spanish.

I might suggest you really don't want to be a pure science major w/o having taken a strong math program through your senior year.

25 on the ACT is equivalent to 1130-1160 on the SAT (CR + M). I think the average incoming basic has closer to 1350; at 25, I think you are just one point above the cut off, so I strongly recommend you take an SAT prep course. 1130 is not going to make you competitive, and you don't want to be in "developmental" math going into the Academy if your goal is to go to med school on the AF's dime. You want to be in the top 10% or so of your USAFA class at graduation to make that a possibility.

Assume you are female so you do have that advantage.

If all goes as planned I might actually be taking a 4th yr. Of math, AP Calc wasn't sure if I could a couple days ago. And hopefully I can still be competitive even with only 1 year of Spanish and maybe a year of German and nope not a female. Thanks for the input!

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fencersmother said:

Assume you are female so you do have that advantage.

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Awww, Fencersmother, you didn't just say that, did you? Maybe I read that in the wrong context?

It's my understanding that females don't get any advantages in the admissions process. I was assured that USAFA & USNA are gender blind. I'm not sure about the others, but I suspect they are well.


-- Proud Mom to USAFA 2018 cadet

Smaller pool of female applicants is all I meant. I am not sure any gov entity is actually gender or race blind.

Why only one year of Spanish?

Like fencersmother, I too am questioning why the lack of foreign language. it's important that any applicant set themselves up for not only a service academy but also make sure they are competitive to other universities as well...the ol' Plan B and C. I could be outdated, but when my kids applied to college, 2 years of a foreign language (and not a "1 and 1" situation) was a minimum requirement to many universities, and in some cases 3 years of the same language was required to meet minimum standards. You may not like language, but you should take 2 years in the same language to be safe. Yes, it gets harder as you progress through, but isn't that the point?
But just my personal opinion, and I could be dating myself.

melindayching said:

Like fencersmother, I too am questioning why the lack of foreign language. it's important that any applicant set themselves up for not only a service academy but also make sure they are competitive to other universities as well...the ol' Plan B and C. I could be outdated, but when my kids applied to college, 2 years of a foreign language (and not a "1 and 1" situation) was a minimum requirement to many universities, and in some cases 3 years of the same language was required to meet minimum standards. You may not like language, but you should take 2 years in the same language to be safe. Yes, it gets harder as you progress through, but isn't that the point?
But just my personal opinion, and I could be dating myself.

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Your thought process is not outdated. My DS applied last year and of the 7 colleges he applied to 7 of them required at least 2 years of foreign language. Regardless of what the Academy requires I'd think it is very important for the backup plans to get that second year of languages in...

In the State of Kansas they don't push for foreign language it is not a requirement to graduate nor a requirement to go to any school here. With that being said I do wish I could take another year of Spanish but due to the low enrollment in Spanish there is 1 teacher for 1 Spanish 2 class. And after having that teacher freshman year there irrepairable issues with that teacher who personally tried to sabatoge my grade for personal reasons and no I'm not exagerating. At this point I don't believe another year of spainsh is an option so lets hope I'll still be competitive with only 1 year in highschool.

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In the State of Kansas they don't push for foreign language it is not a requirement to graduate nor a requirement to go to any school here


No offense Jordan but you can't really mean how this sounds. Of course, most states do not require the study of a second language for high school graduation. However, you are not applying to Brown-Mackie Community College. You are hoping to apply to one of the most elite, most challenging, most intensive colleges in the country - in the world.

So what if the "state" doesn't push you to take two years of a foreign language. PUSH YOURSELF!!! If you have a problem in school, either deal with it and take that second year of Spanish, or go to a community college or find some other way to get that second year of foreign language in. I guarantee you, should you get the nom and appointment and actually begin academics at USAFA (or any other major university), your lack of foreign language (whether the teacher sabotaged your grade or not), will be so glaring as to destroy your GPA. In fact, I would guess that you could not get an appointment with just one year of a foreign language. You MIGHT be offered the prep school, but a direct app into USAFA, I'm highly doubtful.

I would remedy this situation ASAP.

fencersmother said:

In the State of Kansas they don't push for foreign language it is not a requirement to graduate nor a requirement to go to any school here


No offense Jordan but you can't really mean how this sounds. Of course, most states do not require the study of a second language for high school graduation. However, you are not applying to Brown-Mackie Community College. You are hoping to apply to one of the most elite, most challenging, most intensive colleges in the country - in the world.

So what if the "state" doesn't push you to take two years of a foreign language. PUSH YOURSELF!!! If you have a problem in school, either deal with it and take that second year of Spanish, or go to a community college or find some other way to get that second year of foreign language in. I guarantee you, should you get the nom and appointment and actually begin academics at USAFA (or any other major university), your lack of foreign language (whether the teacher sabotaged your grade or not), will be so glaring as to destroy your GPA. In fact, I would guess that you could not get an appointment with just one year of a foreign language. You MIGHT be offered the prep school, but a direct app into USAFA, I'm highly doubtful.

I would remedy this situation ASAP.

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+1000

Just like any course work in High School. If you take the "Basic" which is required by the school; chances are, you won't get an appointment. NO High School in the country REQUIRES AP classes or IB Program classes. But if they are available and you DON'T TAKE THEM, the academies and any DECENT university in the country would be hard pressed to accept you to their school.

So, as far as I'm concerned, I don't give a rat's petunia, what a school requires. That is designed for barely above the "Least Common Denominator" of a student. ALL College bound students should be taking AP classes, the IB Program, Languages, Physics, Chemistry, etc...

fencersmother: "Of course, most states do not require the study of a second language for high school graduation."

I was surprised at your comment and did a quick search (not nearly exhaustive enough but I am satisfied you are correct. http://www.ncssfl.org/docs/States with Foreign Language Graduation Requirements - Revised 2010.pdf

When it came time to apply to college, I sure thought that the schools my kids applied to ALL required a minimum of 2 years of foreign language. I am sure there are some that don't but we certainly didn't find it that way.

So I would agree with fencersmother, Christcorp and others that while your state may not require 2-years to graduate high school, you may find that doing the minimum is not going to be enough for an academy or many universities.

An aside observation...many colleges look for at least 2 years of a language that isn't your secondary language spoken at home. At an interview for an Ivy League, a girl was asked why she didn't pursue studying a language other than the Spanish spoken at home. She did not get accepted.

The easy road will not necessarily get you to where you want to be.

Also, when taking language subject tests, they add a level of difficulty to the language subject tests to compensate for the number of native speakers who take the tests. So a 500 for a non native speaker is considered good, but for a native speaker is isn't considered good.

Jordan5551 is partially correct in that the two largest public universities in Kansas -- KU and K-State -- do not require a foreign language for incoming freshman applicants. (I can't speak to "all" colleges in-state.) It appears Jordan5551 is from the Wichita area (4th District). My DS's high school district (3rd) also does not require a foreign language for high school graduation, but he still took 3 years of Latin.

Having said that -- Jordan5551 -- you have to remember that you are competing for an appointment with all other candidates in Kansas. We are in Johnson County -- home to 3 very large school districts with a lot of resources. Students from these school districts go on to Service Academies, Ivy League schools, and public/private universities across the country, in addition to a large number who attend colleges in Kansas and neighboring states.

Also, there is a lot of competition for nominations in Kansas. You will be competing for a nomination from the same 2 senators as everyone else in Kansas (assuming you apply to them), and the same congressman as everyone in the 4th district. Last year there were slightly more USAFA and USNA candidates seeking appointments/competing for nominations than USMA candidates. At Moran's all-day interview session for candidates, there were close to 200 attending, mostly for USAFA/USNA/USMA. I can't tell you how many of those 200 were competing for 1 of 10 slots on each SA slate, but I do know that most candidates were competing for nominations to multiple SAs.

As others have said, you have to make your application the most competitive you can, which means taking the hardest classes your high school offers and going above and beyond the minimum required.

Just a little more info for you to think about. Good luck with your application!