Saw this on USAFA Parents FB

S

smj89

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2015
Messages
43
Saw these stats on the FB Page
Class Year Men Women Total
2016 642 185 827
2017 781 237 1018
2018 836 226 1062
2019 849 293 1142

Looking at these numbers, every year a significant number of cadets drop. As a female appointee, it's kind of frightening to see that the number of women dropped from 293 to 185....that's 108/293 original females gone before graduation. USAFA has been my dream for as long as I can remember, but looking at these stats I'm sure it was also the dream of those 108 that dropped. Maybe I'm looking for reassurance or reasons why they left, but does anyone have any comments on this? I'm nervous why so many females don't actually graduate....or maybe I'm just reading this to deep. Thoughts? Thanks
 
sorry about the spacing...when I typed it the numbers were more seperated
 
I think you're reading the table incorrectly. Those look like stats for four separate graduating classes which means the number of women increased from 185 for the class of '16 to 293 for this most recent incoming class. Each year, the overall class size is increasing, and the number of women in each class is increasing, not decreasing. (Not sure if these are matriculation stats or graduating stats but, in either case, they say nothing about attrition as they are for four separate classes.)
 
Last edited:
I thought I might be reading it wrong, but I didn't think USAFA had grown each class so much within 4 years. Thanks though, it was really concerning the way I read it, haha.
 
The AF is the branch with the highest percentage of women. Army has about 14%, Navy 17%, Marines have 8%, and AF 19%.

The AF is also the only branch that has a higher percentage of women as officers. Enlisted 18%, Officers 20%. However the numbers change drastically after reaching a certain rank. To retain more women at higher levels, I've read that AF and USAFA are training to get at least 25% women at the academy and General Johnson has worked hard to have more qualified women at the academy. So yes, those numbers make sense. There is also a certain number of people that drop out regardless of gender to be included in there.

Please forgive any mistakes in numbers since I'm doing this from memory.
 
The spreadsheet that you are referring too just speaks to how many cadets are still at the academy. Each line represents the class year. I know that the class of 2019 started off with 1250 cadets. I am not sure how many started in the other classes. So the drop off is not necessarily women, it is just overall. As you can see the women make up about 30% of the class of 2019. Class of 2019 started off with about 30% women so I would say that the number is male and female drops is about the same.

Class..............Year................Men..................Women............Total
.......................2015 ............... 0......................0........................0
.......................2016.................642..................185....................827
.......................2017.................781...................237....................1018
.......................2018................836...................226....................1062
.......................2019................849...................293....................1142
.......................Wing...............3108.................941.....................4049
 
Last edited:
If you compare the most recent 2019 class stats to the July 2015 newsletter (which has class stats as of 6/30/2015), there has been an 7% drop in Men and a 10% drop in Women (8% class total).

Also, if you compare the same time frame with the Class of 2018 (June 30, 2014 to Jan 31, 2015), the stats are very similar - an 8% drop in Men and a 9% drop in Women (8% class total drop).
 
Last edited:
Class of 2016 was a smaller class at entry than the class of 2019. According to this, only 1035 entered in class of 2016. (If I remember correctly, this was a year that all the academies cut class size, in part due to federal budget constraints.) http://paulryan.house.gov/uploadedfiles/usafa_2016.pdf

Here is a similar document for USAFA class of 2014. You can see how much incoming class size dropped in two years. Class of 2014 brought in 1294 cadets. http://paulryan.house.gov/uploadedfiles/usafa_2014.pdf
 
2019 had the highest number of females in its class ever. My element lost 5 females during basic (started with 8). So just go into basic with the right attitude and your chances of making it through this place go up significantly. Work hard and you'll be just fine.
 
got_milk said:
2019 had the highest number of females in its class ever. My element lost 5 females during basic (started with 8). So just go into basic with the right attitude and your chances of making it through this place go up significantly. Work hard and you'll be just fine.
Click to expand...

On the opposite spectrum, our DS's BCT element lost 2 males and 0 females during BCT.
 
My DIL is a USAFA grad and she gave not one moment's thought to leaving.

Fewer women desire a military career (lots of reasons for that, some justified, some ridiculous, some just female) so there will be fewer in the class in general.

The big problem in the military branches comes as those women approach 30 and have a child or two and now... deployment looms, night shifts, long long weeks away... I think that is usually worse for Navy than for Army or AF (don't know about CG or MM), but the prospect of leaving one's babies behind for months is often a deal breaker for many women.
 
How can I access the FB Class of 2020 USAFA Appointees? I can't find any page when I search USAFA Class of 2020?
 
Kiowa19 said:
Whether you stay or not will not be because of your gender. It is ultimately up to the individual.
Click to expand...
Great point. I know it's the in thing these days to paint everyone as a victim. You have to resist this poisonous train of thought and always keep in mind that you and only you control your destiny.

Show up out of shape and unprepared and youre more likely to drop out also.
 
The Academy does have a relatively high attrition rate. I believe that the percentage the Dean shared was about 27% of us will not graduate from USAFA in four years (C/O 2019). However, this is not some mystical process in which people just randomly disappear. If you want to be here, work hard for academics, and stay out of trouble, you will be fine. Don't worry about previous attrition rates, just do the best you can!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top