A few questions to ask

[sa_applicant2023]

hello,

First question:
I have officially recieved my 1st Don Black Belt in Tae Kwon do at my local YMCA. It was tough and required a lot of approval from the Master. Anyways, In addition to playing track at school since junior year (I am a senior now), will the combination of black belt and varsity Track and field for two years be a good foundation of athletics? (+ cross country 12th grade only)

Second Question:
Also, I have others in my congressional district that are at the Falcon Visitation Experience. I didnt even know what it was until they told me they were going, and I am afraid that it will give them an advantage in the competition. When i asked my ALO he didnt seem to know about it, which was ok, since its too late anyway. I tried though So will being at FVE give my competition an advantage? I have my SAT scores (1440, 740 math)

Thanks.

 

[CrewDad]

TKD 4+ years
Track 2 yrs
XC 1 yr

May appear light to some and fine to others, so I'll say you may have just checked the marks on Varsity without leadership or significant awards in each sports. Athletic career seems bit short on my end. TKD may be an exception. Black Belt gives you equivalent of Varsity to USMA and USNA, I would imagine no different to USAFA. With any Dans gives you extra credit to possibly Award level. So if you did instructor time in which case most Black Belts and Dans have, you should mention that since that's Team Leadership.

It sounds like FVE is like CVW at USNA, Cadet Overnight Visit at WP, Academy Experience Program/Genesis at USCGA. If you already did AFASS then you may not need this to get more awareness to USAFA. Your SAT is good but again that is only relative within your own district and don't really matter what the Academy average is. If your district average is higher than Academy average that's the ceiling you need to break. It only takes that one guy or gal to bump you out or behind the Appointment who has better stats than you.

 

[Hoodlum15]

My question is, what are you going to do about it? If someone said your athletics background was dismal (which by the way I think it's fine) what would do to fix it at this point in the game that you otherwise aren't doing in a continual effort to produce the best possible application package? And if you find out that FVE makes others more competitive, what are you going to do short of move districts?

There are tons of things within your control worth stressing about - don't waste your time worrying about things you cannot change.

 

[MidCakePa]

@sa_applicant2023, you’re a senior, so it’s too late now to worry about athletics. It is what it is. (By the way, your athletics look fine to me — not stupendous, but acceptable.)

As for FVE, it does not give anyone an advantage in terms of receiving offer of appointment. It does give them an advantage should they receive offer of appointment, in that they’ll have had first-hand experience at USAFA that can help them decide whether to attend.

There are many cadets who never did FVE. If you don’t get an invitation, don’t worry about it. Just plow on with the rest of the application process. And work on Plan B. Best wishes to you.