Asking For Advice (as a high school student)

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nick platypus

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Joined
Jan 6, 2021
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13
Hi, this is my first time posting.

I am currently a high school sophomore in the graduating year of 2023. I really wish to attend USAFA, but I'm always worrying that I'm not good enough. I have read all of the requirements for the application process. I know that I need a nomination, need to have leadership experience, straight A's, good test scores, be fit to pass the cadent fitness assessment, etc.

Just to give you an idea of who I am, this is how I think I fit the criteria:

1. I'm in boy scouts and have been since 6th grade. I'm a Life Scout (just need my eagle project to get eagle) and have been the Senior Patrol Leader for a year. In addition, I'm the co-president of a Chess club at my high school.
Are those two good enough for the "leadership" criteria?

2. I have a 4.0 GPA at a very competitive school (with an average ACT score of 33... it's crazy, I know). I have not taken any official SAT or ACT tests.

3. I think I'm relatively fit. I used to play soccer for almost 10 years up until 8th grade. From 8th-9th grade, I played in club water polo and on my school's JV team. Right now I'm not participating in an organized sport because of covid. Regarding the USAFA CFA, I can do 12 pull-ups, ~70 push-ups, ~100 crunches, and a 6:45 mile. I have not tried the basketball throw or shuttle run.

I think I fill up most of the criteria, but I'm not sure. I'm especially anxious about the nomination. I'd be very grateful if someone gave me some advice on what I should do next in order to increase my chances of getting into USAFA.

Also, some follow-up questions:
Do aviation scholarships help?
What is the interview like? Advice on how to prepare? (in case I do get interviewed... you never know...)

Thanks
 
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You look good to me! But I don’t matter. The only people that do matter are the ones you are competing against, as well as admissions. Your competition for the nomination, and you will never know all of that. Even if you did know their resume, you will have no idea how they do in their interviews.

So, don’t worry. Only focus on what you can do to be the best version of yourself. Continue to take the most challenging classes your school offers (BTW...you do NOT ‘have to have straight A’s”. That’s not true). Continue to be a leader. Continue to work on your physical fitness so you do the best you can for the CFA.

Something you can do, is to speak with your counselor about your intentions. So they have you on their radar. They will be attesting to your school record. Additionally, establish relationships with your teachers/staff. Be a leader in the classroom. Your teachers will fill out evaluations of you. And you will also be able to provide letters of recommendation as part of your package, so think about who they will be. Make sure they see you as a person they want to recommend.

Good luck on this journey! It’s awesome you are preparing! Don’t forget to have fun, too...enjoy your high school years!
 
You look to be a strong potential candidate. Eagle Scout is great for leadership, however, being a Captain of a Sports Team or having other applied leadership roles will help your chances. You're doing great!
 
All I would recommend is continue looking for service and leadership opportunities in your community that will make your application look that much better. As for the ALO Interview, mine was over an hour on FaceTime. Know your reason and purpose for wanting to attend USAFA. There are a lot of great threads with advice and details about the interview on this forum if you do a little searching.
 
As far as I can tell, there's no "good enough" for leadership. It's not a box that you check. You have to do what you love and commit to it. If being the chess co-president means you come in and set up chess boards, that's very different than if you were fundraising, teaching new players, organizing events, etc. From what I've read, it's really important to make your leadership clear in the interviews, and describe in detail what you do. I'd bet most interviewers know the difference between someone who's embellishing their role and someone who's really passionate about the work they've put in.

For the CFA, you have a lot of time. If you're playing a sport, I wouldn't worry about the specific events until this summer at the earliest. If you're not training for a sport, incorporate the individual events into a workout routine, and then every few weeks practice the entire CFA. My mile time was 10-15 seconds slower after doing the entire CFA.
Additionally, you should definitely get a sense of the shuttle and the basketball throw sooner rather than later. I consider myself to be in pretty good shape, and that's where I struggled the most.
 
Obtaining more leadership positions like the captain of a sports team or student council officer would be beneficial for leadership. For sports, being part of a varsity team also helps immensely. I see you have a 33 on the ACT, striving for a 34 and above will increase your chances of getting an LOA too so highly recommend you try and get that!!
 
Consider joining cross country this fall to both get in shape and show participation in a varsity sport. (Cross country is almost always a no-cut squad.) If you have a good team you likely won't earn a leadership position with your late start, but running is going to be a big part of your life at any academy so you might as well jump in today.

And as mentioned above, leadership isn't a check box, and it isn't about titles in organizations. It's about making a direct impact on an organization. Frequently a story of creating a program that increased club participation numbers or introducing a fund raising program in ways that will survive your graduation tells a more compelling story than just being elected VP of junior class. President of the chess club looks pretty passive, but it can pop if you can tell of introducing recruitment changes or an online middle school outreach program or something similar.
 
justdoit19 said:
You look good to me! But I don’t matter. The only people that do matter are the ones you are competing against, as well as admissions. Your competition for the nomination, and you will never know all of that. Even if you did know their resume, you will have no idea how they do in their interviews.

So, don’t worry. Only focus on what you can do to be the best version of yourself. Continue to take the most challenging classes your school offers (BTW...you do NOT ‘have to have straight A’s”. That’s not true). Continue to be a leader. Continue to work on your physical fitness so you do the best you can for the CFA.

Something you can do, is to speak with your counselor about your intentions. So they have you on their radar. They will be attesting to your school record. Additionally, establish relationships with your teachers/staff. Be a leader in the classroom. Your teachers will fill out evaluations of you. And you will also be able to provide letters of recommendation as part of your package, so think about who they will be. Make sure they see you as a person they want to recommend.

Good luck on this journey! It’s awesome you are preparing! Don’t forget to have fun, too...enjoy your high school years!
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Thank you so much for the advice! I'll do my best to follow it.
 
CaligulasHorse said:
As far as I can tell, there's no "good enough" for leadership. It's not a box that you check. You have to do what you love and commit to it. If being the chess co-president means you come in and set up chess boards, that's very different than if you were fundraising, teaching new players, organizing events, etc. From what I've read, it's really important to make your leadership clear in the interviews, and describe in detail what you do. I'd bet most interviewers know the difference between someone who's embellishing their role and someone who's really passionate about the work they've put in.

For the CFA, you have a lot of time. If you're playing a sport, I wouldn't worry about the specific events until this summer at the earliest. If you're not training for a sport, incorporate the individual events into a workout routine, and then every few weeks practice the entire CFA. My mile time was 10-15 seconds slower after doing the entire CFA.
Additionally, you should definitely get a sense of the shuttle and the basketball throw sooner rather than later. I consider myself to be in pretty good shape, and that's where I struggled the most.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the useful information! I will totally implement the things you mentioned in my leadership—especially your advice on the chess club.
 
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aero4007 said:
Obtaining more leadership positions like the captain of a sports team or student council officer would be beneficial for leadership. For sports, being part of a varsity team also helps immensely. I see you have a 33 on the ACT, striving for a 34 and above will increase your chances of getting an LOA too so highly recommend you try and get that!!
Click to expand...
Playing on a varsity team sounds like an awesome idea!
Also, sorry if I was unclear in my original post, but I do not have a 33 on the ACT. My school average is 33 on the ACT. Again, sorry for the confusion.
 
StPaulDad said:
Consider joining cross country this fall to both get in shape and show participation in a varsity sport. (Cross country is almost always a no-cut squad.) If you have a good team you likely won't earn a leadership position with your late start, but running is going to be a big part of your life at any academy so you might as well jump in today.

And as mentioned above, leadership isn't a check box, and it isn't about titles in organizations. It's about making a direct impact on an organization. Frequently a story of creating a program that increased club participation numbers or introducing a fund raising program in ways that will survive your graduation tells a more compelling story than just being elected VP of junior class. President of the chess club looks pretty passive, but it can pop if you can tell of introducing recruitment changes or an online middle school outreach program or something similar.
Click to expand...
You know, I was thinking of joining cross country too! I agree that it will help me get in shape for the CFA and show participation in a varsity sport.
Regarding Chess club, I will take your advice and try my best to make it stand out more on my application.
 
rickdunnjr said:
You look to be a strong potential candidate. Eagle Scout is great for leadership, however, being a Captain of a Sports Team or having other applied leadership roles will help your chances. You're doing great!
Click to expand...
Thank you so much! When covid ends, I will try hard to become captain of my school's water polo team.
 
There may be other Leadership opportunities in scouts. National Leadership Training, Jr. Asst. Scoutmaster. Good luck.
 
lukeL said:
All I would recommend is continue looking for service and leadership opportunities in your community that will make your application look that much better. As for the ALO Interview, mine was over an hour on FaceTime. Know your reason and purpose for wanting to attend USAFA. There are a lot of great threads with advice and details about the interview on this forum if you do a little searching.
Click to expand...
Service would look good on my application, I agree. I already have 69 hours of service, but more doesn't hurt!
Just out of curiosity, what number of service hours would look good on the application?

I will do some digging in these forums to look for more advice on the interview.
 
nick platypus said:
Service would look good on my application, I agree. I already have 69 hours of service, but more doesn't hurt!
Just out of curiosity, what number of service hours would look good on the application?

I will do some digging in these forums to look for more advice on the interview.
Click to expand...
There isn't a set number of service hours that they are looking for. In fact, I never even ended up listing how many service hours I had when I submitted my application. The most important thing (and what admissions is looking for) is the impact you made while serving. Have specific examples of when you felt you made a difference, know what your average day of volunteering looked like, etc. Remember: quality over quantity!
 
USAFA_86 said:
There isn't a set number of service hours that they are looking for. In fact, I never even ended up listing how many service hours I had when I submitted my application. The most important thing (and what admissions is looking for) is the impact you made while serving. Have specific examples of when you felt you made a difference, know what your average day of volunteering looked like, etc. Remember: quality over quantity!
Click to expand...
You have a very good point! I'll try and think of some examples of when I made an impact while volunteering.
 
Service hours themselves do not count for anything on the application to USAFA. The roles that you take on while performing the hours are what counts.

Stealth_81
 
Makes sense that what the volunteer role is....is actually more important. Also, for you Eagles (I don't know about Girl Scouts), you need at least 20 hrs to make Eagle-so you can talk about your role in those hours.
 
Stealth_81 said:
Incorrect information. There is nothing to indicate a set score on a standardized test is a trigger for an LOA.

Stealth_81
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I'm just speaking based on a personal email conversation I had with West Point's Southeast Regional Commander Capt Dahl, where he told me that my updated SAT score (1510) had made me LOA eligible. Nothing in my file had changed except for my test score, and his email further led to my thinking that the score was a trigger for the LOA. Now West Point and Air Force admissions are two different stories so I do apologize for that as they may handle it differently! Thank you for pointing that out.
 
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