I was hoping for USAFA, but I dont think I'll get in so should I still apply? Its my dream but dreams 99% of the of the time dont come true and I want to make sure that I look at reality as well. Service Academies are for superstars and I'm no superstar. The recent question I asked about math plays a factor as well. Feel free to shoot me down.
Applying?
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kjc_25
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If this is your dream, then go for it! It is important to remember that the main goal of the academy is to create officers in the military. If that is your goal go for it! You can also do rotc if that doesn't work out. My point is if your goal is to be a military officer, there are a lot of ways to do it if you set your mind to it. Don't limit yourself to the AFA.
Don't give up your dream just because somebody on an Internet form told you to. You don't know if you are going to get in if you don't apply. Work hard in school and extracurriculars. Get in shape. These forms are great, people are willing to help you out with strengthening your resume. Work your butt off and you never know what will happen. Only you can know that you have what it takes for the academy, look inside yourself and find the motivation there. Best of luck!
Don't give up your dream just because somebody on an Internet form told you to. You don't know if you are going to get in if you don't apply. Work hard in school and extracurriculars. Get in shape. These forms are great, people are willing to help you out with strengthening your resume. Work your butt off and you never know what will happen. Only you can know that you have what it takes for the academy, look inside yourself and find the motivation there. Best of luck!
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- 6,188
Micheal Jordan once said: "You always miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
I wanted USAFA from age 7...graduated from Air Academy High School, at USAFA...
Didn't get in. Received rejects from all the academies. So I spent a year prepping...busting my tush....
Accepted to the Class of 1983 at USMA, USNA, and USAFA.
How bad do you want it?
Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
I wanted USAFA from age 7...graduated from Air Academy High School, at USAFA...
Didn't get in. Received rejects from all the academies. So I spent a year prepping...busting my tush....
Accepted to the Class of 1983 at USMA, USNA, and USAFA.
How bad do you want it?
Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
JestFutureFalcon
Member
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2015
- Messages
- 158
Dude you already asked us like 3 times if you should apply. We aren't the ones filling out the app. We aren't magical beings that can automatically say if you apply you will get accepted. That's not what this forum is for. It's for those who wish to understand more about the academy and has specific questions about stuff. I get that you asked once, I mean we all feel unsure at first, but three? Come one dude have some faith in yourself (my old fashioned dad would say "grow some balls!").
If you don't like math, then it's something u get over when at the academy (and hopefully before getting there since we would get thrown straight into calc 1).
What are you scared of by applying? Getting rejected? You wouldn't be the only one, because 90% of applicants do get rejected. Are you scared of failure? Don't be! Failure just hardens our resolve to do things we couldn't before. If USAFA is truly a dream of your just like it is mine, then you would do ANYTHING to better yourself and prepare for the rigorous lifestyle. This is when you need to ask yourself "why am I doing this?" Why is it your dream to go to USAFA? Just to say you went to a service academy? For a free college education? Or is it so that you can be a part of something bigger, something that will protect our country. If you are applying for the wrong reasons, I can tell you now that USAFA will not be fun for you if you do decide to get over yourself, apply and hopefully get accepted.
You want reality? The acceptance rate of USAFA is a little over 10%. Anyone has a chance of being the top 10% only when they apply. And dreams can only come true if you are willing to work for them. I'm sorry if this offends you, but one of the problems with the majority of our generation is that we have been tempered into the mindset that "everything will be ok." We've been given so much, and as a result we are not grateful for the little things. We begin to think we are entitled to everything we want. So When I see people say that their dream is to be a nurse practitioner, or an engineer and ask about their grades, o which they reply they get Bs and Cs, I know that there is no chance they will achieve that dream. All they are searching for is big money, and they think that choosing a job will automatically let them have said job. Their motives are completely wrong, and as a result they will most like end up in a dead end job for the rest of their life. Ask yourself is it really a dream of your to go to USAFA if you are not even willing to apply?
If you don't like math, then it's something u get over when at the academy (and hopefully before getting there since we would get thrown straight into calc 1).
What are you scared of by applying? Getting rejected? You wouldn't be the only one, because 90% of applicants do get rejected. Are you scared of failure? Don't be! Failure just hardens our resolve to do things we couldn't before. If USAFA is truly a dream of your just like it is mine, then you would do ANYTHING to better yourself and prepare for the rigorous lifestyle. This is when you need to ask yourself "why am I doing this?" Why is it your dream to go to USAFA? Just to say you went to a service academy? For a free college education? Or is it so that you can be a part of something bigger, something that will protect our country. If you are applying for the wrong reasons, I can tell you now that USAFA will not be fun for you if you do decide to get over yourself, apply and hopefully get accepted.
You want reality? The acceptance rate of USAFA is a little over 10%. Anyone has a chance of being the top 10% only when they apply. And dreams can only come true if you are willing to work for them. I'm sorry if this offends you, but one of the problems with the majority of our generation is that we have been tempered into the mindset that "everything will be ok." We've been given so much, and as a result we are not grateful for the little things. We begin to think we are entitled to everything we want. So When I see people say that their dream is to be a nurse practitioner, or an engineer and ask about their grades, o which they reply they get Bs and Cs, I know that there is no chance they will achieve that dream. All they are searching for is big money, and they think that choosing a job will automatically let them have said job. Their motives are completely wrong, and as a result they will most like end up in a dead end job for the rest of their life. Ask yourself is it really a dream of your to go to USAFA if you are not even willing to apply?
6KDogwhistle
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2014
- Messages
- 86
Dude, hope you're not a troll because I hate wasting key strokes.
I'm not the type of person to rip someone a new one and I definitely don't enjoy being a hard a**. It's not how I roll. However, I will be brutally honest with you since you've asked because it does no justice to sugar coat things. After all, this is the military and it's not in the baby sitting business. It's simple.... wake the f-up and grow some balls, as JestFutureFalcon have said! Yeah, that's right, man up!!! If attending the academy is your dream, YOU need to make it come true because no one else will make it happen for you, especially on a web forum. Life isn't as difficult as it seems. It's the individuals that make life difficult and complex. True, some things in life are out of our hands but we do have quite of bit of control. As I always say, own the things that you are allowed to control and rest is in God's hands. We all learn this on day one in Kindergarten-make the right "choices".
Can you honestly say to yourself that you've given it all you've got thus far? When was the last time you've stayed up all night studying "effectively" to ace an exam? Have you pushed your body to its limits where you thought you were going to collapse and pass out, whether it was during an intense workout/sport event or studying? How well do you really know yourself, physically and psychologically? You see, everyone has a dream and a plan but very few will execute that plan successfully. It takes tremendous discipline and sacrifice to achieve goals and dreams, otherwise we'd all be rockstars but you knew that.
I wasn't a stellar student and I didn't apply myself in my younger years. I was a "min roller" and did the least amount of work in order to squeak by. I lived by the motto, "if the minimum isn't good enough, why even have minimums?". I knew that I wasn't dumb but I also knew that I wasn't Albert Einstein. I was a bit like you-low in self confidence/esteem. My sister was the stellar one. She was a 4.5 GPA student from kindergarten all the way through high school. She was the high school valedictorian and went Ivy league all the way through med school. She graduated with a 3.97 GPA in college, went to her 1st choice med school, and graduated in the top 3% there, earning her a spot in the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. She is now a highly regarded MD in her specialty. Hence, by low self esteem.
Somehow, she sucked out all the smart cells in the womb and I got the left overs. Anyhow, one thing I had going for me was a little spark inside of me; I wanted to be a pilot, more specifically, an airline pilot. In high school, I volunteered at the career center and helped set up college fairs. I spent many hours there researching my dream. After numerous hours and days of research and soul searching, I decided that I was going to become an Air Force pilot. From this point on , my life took a 180 degree turn. I got my butt in gear and hunkered down. It was the the most drastic change in my life style, even to this date. I literally studied my rear end off and got involved in sports and school clubs (I absolutely hated those school clubs-too many geeks). I even gave up jammin' with the boys in a heavy metal band and joined the high school marching band-more geeks! I went from sleeping 10+ hours a night to less than 6 hours. Those were some of my longest and darkest days of my life; it was extremely difficult and waaaaay beyond painful to go from a min rolling slacker to an "A" student. Because of my stellar sister, my school counselor always forced me to enroll in AP and honor classes, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. In the end, it all paid off and I ended up at a college of my choice. I joined AFROTC and studied Aerospace Engineering (what a pain that was!). From this point on, I approached every one of my goals & targets as if failure was not an option and attained my goals even if it was going to kill me. Seriously. I really never considered the academy and more importantly, I would not have gotten in since I was a little late in getting my act together. Furthermore, I'm pretty certain that I would not have survived the zoo because of my attitude. One day a week of ROTC was bad enough for me. I never really adapted to people giving me orders, especially from upper class-man. I guess growing up as a wild child doesn't help with the military life. And the rest is history!
Here's some good news. If a slacker like myself can turn things around, so can you. If attending the academy is indeed your goal, what's stopping you? Give it a 110% and see where the chips fall. If you don't get in the first time, you can always go to a junior college or a university and keep on applying until you hit the age cutoff (no older than 23 by 1 July you enter the academy). If you are offered a prep school slot, take it. In my short time as an ALO, I've seen some stellar candidates get rejected and some, who I thought were average at best, get accepted. Bottom line is, you won't know until you apply and go through the process. More importantly, keep your focus on your end goal which is to serve in the U.S.A.F. as an officer. It's going to take a lot of soul searching, if you haven't done so already. Keep ROTC as an option and if that doesn't work out, OTS is always an option. Just realize that the academy gets first/more dibs on AFSCs (career fields), then ROTC, then OTS, in that order. It means that if you want to get a pilot slot, an academy grad will have a better shot at getting one than someone from ROTC or OTS, assuming he/she is pilot qualified. Things may have changed since my time (highly doubt it) but pilot slots were hard to come by when I was in ROTC. Roughly 10-20% of my graduating class got pilot slots and most people in my class wanted one.
It's a tough world out there. Put up or get out. My .02.
I'm not the type of person to rip someone a new one and I definitely don't enjoy being a hard a**. It's not how I roll. However, I will be brutally honest with you since you've asked because it does no justice to sugar coat things. After all, this is the military and it's not in the baby sitting business. It's simple.... wake the f-up and grow some balls, as JestFutureFalcon have said! Yeah, that's right, man up!!! If attending the academy is your dream, YOU need to make it come true because no one else will make it happen for you, especially on a web forum. Life isn't as difficult as it seems. It's the individuals that make life difficult and complex. True, some things in life are out of our hands but we do have quite of bit of control. As I always say, own the things that you are allowed to control and rest is in God's hands. We all learn this on day one in Kindergarten-make the right "choices".
Can you honestly say to yourself that you've given it all you've got thus far? When was the last time you've stayed up all night studying "effectively" to ace an exam? Have you pushed your body to its limits where you thought you were going to collapse and pass out, whether it was during an intense workout/sport event or studying? How well do you really know yourself, physically and psychologically? You see, everyone has a dream and a plan but very few will execute that plan successfully. It takes tremendous discipline and sacrifice to achieve goals and dreams, otherwise we'd all be rockstars but you knew that.
I wasn't a stellar student and I didn't apply myself in my younger years. I was a "min roller" and did the least amount of work in order to squeak by. I lived by the motto, "if the minimum isn't good enough, why even have minimums?". I knew that I wasn't dumb but I also knew that I wasn't Albert Einstein. I was a bit like you-low in self confidence/esteem. My sister was the stellar one. She was a 4.5 GPA student from kindergarten all the way through high school. She was the high school valedictorian and went Ivy league all the way through med school. She graduated with a 3.97 GPA in college, went to her 1st choice med school, and graduated in the top 3% there, earning her a spot in the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. She is now a highly regarded MD in her specialty. Hence, by low self esteem.
Somehow, she sucked out all the smart cells in the womb and I got the left overs. Anyhow, one thing I had going for me was a little spark inside of me; I wanted to be a pilot, more specifically, an airline pilot. In high school, I volunteered at the career center and helped set up college fairs. I spent many hours there researching my dream. After numerous hours and days of research and soul searching, I decided that I was going to become an Air Force pilot. From this point on , my life took a 180 degree turn. I got my butt in gear and hunkered down. It was the the most drastic change in my life style, even to this date. I literally studied my rear end off and got involved in sports and school clubs (I absolutely hated those school clubs-too many geeks). I even gave up jammin' with the boys in a heavy metal band and joined the high school marching band-more geeks! I went from sleeping 10+ hours a night to less than 6 hours. Those were some of my longest and darkest days of my life; it was extremely difficult and waaaaay beyond painful to go from a min rolling slacker to an "A" student. Because of my stellar sister, my school counselor always forced me to enroll in AP and honor classes, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. In the end, it all paid off and I ended up at a college of my choice. I joined AFROTC and studied Aerospace Engineering (what a pain that was!). From this point on, I approached every one of my goals & targets as if failure was not an option and attained my goals even if it was going to kill me. Seriously. I really never considered the academy and more importantly, I would not have gotten in since I was a little late in getting my act together. Furthermore, I'm pretty certain that I would not have survived the zoo because of my attitude. One day a week of ROTC was bad enough for me. I never really adapted to people giving me orders, especially from upper class-man. I guess growing up as a wild child doesn't help with the military life. And the rest is history!Here's some good news. If a slacker like myself can turn things around, so can you. If attending the academy is indeed your goal, what's stopping you? Give it a 110% and see where the chips fall. If you don't get in the first time, you can always go to a junior college or a university and keep on applying until you hit the age cutoff (no older than 23 by 1 July you enter the academy). If you are offered a prep school slot, take it. In my short time as an ALO, I've seen some stellar candidates get rejected and some, who I thought were average at best, get accepted. Bottom line is, you won't know until you apply and go through the process. More importantly, keep your focus on your end goal which is to serve in the U.S.A.F. as an officer. It's going to take a lot of soul searching, if you haven't done so already. Keep ROTC as an option and if that doesn't work out, OTS is always an option. Just realize that the academy gets first/more dibs on AFSCs (career fields), then ROTC, then OTS, in that order. It means that if you want to get a pilot slot, an academy grad will have a better shot at getting one than someone from ROTC or OTS, assuming he/she is pilot qualified. Things may have changed since my time (highly doubt it) but pilot slots were hard to come by when I was in ROTC. Roughly 10-20% of my graduating class got pilot slots and most people in my class wanted one.
It's a tough world out there. Put up or get out. My .02.
Last edited:
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- Oct 10, 2007
- Messages
- 3,181
Don't apply. If you have asked multiple times on an anonymous forum what you should do, then don't listen to sage advice, there is no place for you among the officer corps.
JestFutureFalcon
Member
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2015
- Messages
- 158
Your life, your choices. No sympathy coming from me. If you live life worrying about what others think, don't expect to do great things.
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2007
- Messages
- 3,181
17, if that is your decision, it is probably correct.
But if you think for one minute that an anonymous person from an anonymous forum made a decision for you - well, that's a shame, but it is indeed telling.
If this is your "life long dream" and you let me (or anyone else) dissuade you - perhaps your destiny lies elsewhere.
But if you think for one minute that an anonymous person from an anonymous forum made a decision for you - well, that's a shame, but it is indeed telling.
If this is your "life long dream" and you let me (or anyone else) dissuade you - perhaps your destiny lies elsewhere.