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Raptor22

10-Year Member
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Oct 15, 2013
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Hey! I’m a relatively recent grad of USAFA (2022) and happy to answer any questions you may have about any aspects of USAFA and the Air Force! I remember being on this forum all the time so any way that I can help I am happy to! Little bit about me:

Lifelong dream was to graduate from USAFA and become a fighter pilot in the Air Force. I applied during my senior year of high school and received my rejection letter in April 2017. I went to Marion Military Institute as a self-prep in the Service Academy Program for year and received my appointment in April 2018. I can’t say enough great things about that program and highly highly highly recommend it if you are serious about going to ANY Service Academy! Lt Col Bowen is the man!!! Graduated from USAFA in 2022 and spent a little under a year as an Admissions Advisor for USAFA before heading to pilot training. Finished up pilot training and got assigned to fly the C-130J!

Again, ask away and I am happy to help!

The entire journey was all super worth it so don’t give up if this is what you want to do!!
 
@Raptor22 Congrats and thanks for making yourself available! How did you like the admissions advisor program and what was your day to day like? Did you get a preference sheet for location? My DS just had his interview for this role while he waits for UPT similar to you.
 
@AF Roots Happy to do it! It was a cool gig for the time. TON of flexibility and autonomy within the role. You are based out of one of the regional Air Force Recruiting Squadrons and do USAFA outreach for that respective region. Getting paid to talk about the Academy and travel was awesome. A typical day really depends on how you want your schedule to go. You might have 1-2 high school visits or an evening Service Academy Info Night to go speak at…it all depends. Typically, I would show up to the squadron at around 8-9am, go hit my events (whatever those may be), come back and basically be done for the day unless I had more going on. If I had stuff going on later in the day then I would adjust my timeline from there. Some days were purely admin days where I was answering emails/helping with applications , setting up events, etc. Those types of days were usually 8/9am-12pm. We also got to telework 2 days out of the week which was SUPER nice. I had two AFROTC Gold Bar Recruiters that I worked with as well and we are still friends to this day. Working with the enlisted recruiters was insightful as well. You do get to put in a preference for location…I ended up with my 8th(?) choice but it wasn’t bad at all. A lot may have changed with the program since the new Director of Admissions has taken over. Overall, highly recommended for someone waiting for UPT!!
 
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@Bravesfan1 my ACT super score was Math: 25 Science: 25 Reading: 32 English: 32.

For the SAT I had a 630 in Math and a 660 in Reading.

I’m from Nevada!
 
Thanks. I met Col Bowen at an Academy night last year. He seems great! Congrats on getting in.
 
The J model?

I hope the engines have improved or been upgraded since the C-130’s we had at (No Hope) Pope.

I am trying to jog the ol’ memory banks here…some of the serial numbers we had were like 495 , 573 , and 1261 .

So those real, full serial numbers were 60495, 60573, and 61261.

Yeah, that’s right! 1960 and 1961 model C-130’s . And here it was 1994, 1995, and 1996. Those planes were about 36 years old.

At that time, under the “composite wing” structure, there was also a squadron of F-16’s, and a squadron of A-10’s. There were two C-130 squadrons. All were under Air Cimbat Command….unless…

There were so many parachute drops being done by the 82nd Airborne Division, that yes, some our the Pope C-130’s got farmed out to AMC. But there were a bunch of 130’s that would come from Little Rock and Dyess. Maintenance was so bad at Little Rock, that they would intentionally fly siom partially broken 130’s to Pope. Then they would expect Pope maintainers to fix Little Rock’s planes.

I am getting to a point…honest, I am…

The C-130’s at Pope would always have a #1, #2, #3, or #4 “turbine inlet temperature” alarm.

Yes, a “#1 T.I.T.” That requires an engine shutdown because that engine could be on fire. In turn, they aircrew would have to declare an “inflight emergency”. (An “I.F.E.”). So that basically like locked out the rest of the airspace or airfield until that 130 landed and taxied back.

This was like an every day occurrence, Monday through Friday in the mid 1990’s at Pope.

So I am hoping that the J models have better engines or at the least upgraded T.I.T.’s .

Congratulations!

I wish you the best of luck.
 
Can you go into further depth on how you received a nomination after getting rejected? I'm worried about getting rejected and I want to know how I can still get in.
 
Would you be willing to speak to potential candidates about how going the military college route is awesome?
 
HANKER said:
Would you be willing to speak to potential candidates about how going the military college route is awesome?
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Raptor 22 mentioned that he was an academy advisor/admissions advisor. That is whom you should try to get to come speak to your potential candidates. I believe there are nine regional directors in the office of admissions, each with a number of 2nd lieutenant USAFA postgraduates that are assigned and living in those regions for just that purpose. I don't know exactly how to contact them except by going through the Academy Advisor office at the Academy or perhaps an air liaison officer, ALO, in your area might know.

And I would bet Raptor 22 could tell you exactly how to get ahold of one!
 
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BrockTheMenace said:
Can you go into further depth on how you received a nomination after getting rejected? I'm worried about getting rejected and I want to know how I can still get in.
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@BrockTheMenace Absolutely! First, I would say just worry about submitting the best application that you can. I think having a solid backup plan is absolutely a good move but again just focus on doing the best you can! The nomination process was the exact same on my 2nd time applying as it was the first time. For Nevada, at the time, we had to submit an application packet for each Representative/Senator that included transcripts, SAT/ACT scores, resume, etc. From there, you did an interview and they made the selections on who was going to receive a nomination. On my second time applying, I was able to speak about what I had learned from my first application and how I was working to improve on those deficiencies (mostly academic). I think this helped my case a lot. I ended up getting a nomination from both my Senator and Representative. Additionally, while I was at Marion, I was able to participate in Air Force ROTC at the University of Alabama. You can receive a nomination to USAFA from Air Force ROTC so I asked my leadership about it and they submitted my name for one. Which leads me to the big takeaway…DON’T GIVE UP AND APPLY FOR EVERY NOMINATION SOURCE THAT YOU ARE ELIGIBLE FOR!

Hope this helps!
 
HANKER said:
Would you be willing to speak to potential candidates about how going the military college route is awesome?
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@HANKER Sure thing! There are 4 military junior colleges in the U.S.: Marion Military Institute, Georgia Military College, New Mexico Military Institute, and Valley Forge Military College. I’m not sure about Valley Forge, but the other 3 have 1-year Service Academy Prep Programs designed to prep students academically, militarily, and physically, to receive an appointment to any of the Service Academies. Obviously I can only speak about Marion and I will say that they have that program DIALED IN! The academics were similar to what I saw at USAFA and I was able to lay a good foundation especially in STEM classes and work on my SAT/ACT scores. I mentioned in an above reply that I got to participate in Air Force ROTC and ended up getting a nomination out of it. The physical fitness program at Marion was designed to meet you where you were and help you progress. Moreover, it was a HUGE help for the CFA. I also got to run Cross Country while I was there and getting to compete at an intercollegiate level was something that I never dreamed of. Marion and the other schools do have other sports if you’re potentially interested in that. Getting exposed to the military lifestyle was also a cool benefit because you get a feel for what to expect over the next four years at an Academy. I would say the coolest thing about Marion was all of the support that I got from the faculty and staff there. The teachers were always willing to help and sometimes came in at night to hold study sessions. I’ve said this before, but Lt Col Bowen (Director of the Service Academy Program) is THE MAN! One time I went into his office and asked if he could call USAFA for me to check on my application and he did right then and there no questions asked. It felt like everyone there was cheering us on and wanted to do what they could to help. I met lifelong friends there and it was cool to watch people get their appointments.

I hope that helped!

Feel free to PM me with any specific questions about Marion or anything else!

(open invitation to everyone btw)
 
Stormbird said:
Raptor 22 mentioned that he was an academy advisor/admissions advisor. That is whom you should try to get to come speak to your potential candidates. I believe there are nine regional directors in the office of admissions, each with a number of 2nd lieutenant USAFA postgraduates that are assigned and living in those regions for just that purpose. I don't know exactly how to contact them except by going through the Academy Advisor office at the Academy or perhaps an air liaison officer, ALO, in your area might know.

And I would bet Raptor 22 could tell you exactly how to get ahold of one!
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Your best bet would be to go to USAFA’s admissions website and fill out the Contact Us form (linked below). In the message, I would mention that you are specifically looking for the Admissions Advisor assigned to your area and they should be able to get you connected.

https://www.academyadmissions.com/contact/
 
@Raptor22 I want to join the military and decided to join the army. Took the ASVAB test last month and had to go to MEPS, did all my tests and failed on my hearing test 3 times, had to go home without signing any contract. My recruiter asked me to go see an audiologist and bring in a better result if I believe my hearing is good. Upon arriving on Monday at the recruiter's office to submit my new test results, he told me my waiver was denied and the only thing he could do is to seek an appeal with my new result, at this moment I'm nervous and don't know what to do.

This is the result to my new test and I don't know if it will be considered
HZ Right Ear Left Ear Requirement
500 35dB 35dB (Not more than 35dB)
1000 30dB 35db (Not more than 35 dB)
2000 40dB 45dB (Not more than 35 dB)
3000 50dB 60dB (Not more than 45 dB)
4000 45dB 40dB (Not more than 55 dB)
6000 35dB 40dB

I'm thinking of switching to the Airforce or Navy. I just need help.
 
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@kobby1ne Hey! I’m not sure what the medical standards are for enlisting in any branch of the military. My advice would be to go and talk to the Air Force and/or Navy recruiters and see what they say.
 
@Raptor22 Hey I was just wondering what was your timeline of your Marion Military Institute journey. What was your class load like? When did you start your reapplication? How does the institute affect your reapplication?
 
Hey @Raptor22, USMA reapplicant here. Do you have any tips on how to keep an optimistic mindset as a reapplicant? The worst part about reapplying for me is knowing that if I don't get in again, I'll either have to put off commissioning by two years instead of one or give up on going to my dream school. Neither is appealing.

Any advice would be appreciated.
 
@AFNoel Hello! Great questions, I’ll start with the timeline one:

*I went to Summer Seminar and after coming back from that I was dedicated to doing whatever it took to get to USAFA. Therefore, I only looked at schools with Service Academy Prep programs.*

- Fall 2016 (Senior Year HS): Accepted to Marion Military Institute…literally didn’t think about it again until Spring 2017.

- April 17, 2017 (Senior Year HS): Received rejection letter from USAFA. Decided same day I was going to Marion. (To be fair, I actually only ended up applying to USAFA and Marion for my college options. I got into another Military College, Wentworth, but it closed a few months later).

- July 2017: Restarted application to USAFA for the Class of 2022. Pretty sure I restarted on the first day that it opened.

- July 31, 2017: Reported to Marion (I had never been there before so it was a complete shot in the dark). I was able to walk on to the Cross Country Team and we had to show up about a week earlier than everyone else. *I didn’t play any sports in HS so I think doing a college sport was HUGE for my application.*

Fall 2017: Completed most of my application for USAFA. I had to wait for my first semester transcripts from Marion to be sent to USAFA for it to be fully completed.

April 14, 2018: Received my appointment to USAFA!!!

June 28, 2018: Reported to USAFA

May 25, 2022: GRADUATED FROM USAFA!!


The class load was pretty similar to what you are going to see at USAFA. First Semester I took: Chemistry, Physics, College Algebra, English, Air Force ROTC, Math ACT/SAT Prep, and Reading ACT/SAT Prep. Service Academy Prep Physical Training and Cross Country also counted as classes as well. Second Semester was more or less the same with the only changes being no ACT/SAT prep classes, Trigonometry instead of Algebra, and Cross Country was over. *In high school, I DID NOT DO WELL in Math. Freshman year, I got a C in Geometry Honors first semester and a D second semester. Sophomore year I got a D in Algebra II Honors first semester and an F second semester…and yes, the Academy saw it. When I got to Marion, I got an A in College Algebra which I also think really helped my case because it showed that I could handle college level math.*

Marion has all of the resources there to help get you an appointment to any Academy. However, YOU have to put in the work. ALL of the staff/faculty there are all willing to help and want to see you succeed. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, Lt Col Bowen (Service Academy Program Director), is the man!!!

In the event that you don’t get in to USAFA, take an honest look at your application and figure out where you can strengthen it. Go to Marion and put in the work and I think you will find success.

I hope that answers your questions (not sure if I really answered the last one) and please let me know if you have more!
 
@BearDog567 Hey! First off, BEEN THERE! It’s tough I know! But YOU CAN DO IT! Honestly, I wasn’t the best about keeping a positive attitude throughout the process. I would say just do the best that you can so that you can know that you gave it your all. Knowing what I know now, I really wish I would’ve used that opportunity to lean into my faith and prayer life more. As I look back, God had an awesome plan for my life and I should’ve trusted Him more! Not sure what your faith looks like, but that’s just my take on it!

I know that’s probably not the shiny penny answer you were looking for but if you can make a conscious effort to put your best foot forward EVERYDAY and know that YOU gave it your all then everything will work out how it is supposed to!

Let me know if you have any other questions!

*Pray about it too!*
 
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