Chances of Getting into USAFA/USNA?

kevs said:
I think my grades were definitely my strongest part of my application. I graduated with a 4.45 GPA but my extracurriculars were average at best. Just community service and sports. Your academics look good and extracurriculars look great. Also, when writing your essays, try to connect them to either the AF core values or USAFA honor code, that’s what I did and I think that helped out my application. When writing your essays, also write them in a way that makes it seem like the Air Force is investing in you, and if they offer you an appointment, they will benefit from you going to USAFA.
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Did you have any exciting life experiences/talents to write about? I don’t have many particularly exciting ones so I’ve been kinda worried about essay question #2.
 
kevs said:
I think my grades were definitely my strongest part of my application. I graduated with a 4.45 GPA but my extracurriculars were average at best. Just community service and sports. Your academics look good and extracurriculars look great. Also, when writing your essays, try to connect them to either the AF core values or USAFA honor code, that’s what I did and I think that helped out my application. When writing your essays, also write them in a way that makes it seem like the Air Force is investing in you, and if they offer you an appointment, they will benefit from you going to USAFA.
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Also, did you have particularly good standardized test scores?
 
HCopter said:
You don't have to answer to us, but here are some thinking questions for you to answer:

ACT is really good, especially because E35 and M35. I repeat, M35 is excellent! Kuddos to you for having a very strong anchoring score. Is there any short story there for you to explain how you went about getting a test score in this cycle? Bottom line: You DID. Not coulda woulda shoulda. Is there a story there?

Agree with @BuckeyeDad20 , not to sound harsh, but I agree as written, they don't wow me. Put another way, you look like 1 of 1,000 rectangular legos but aren't (as written) an eyeball, claw, dumpster tool that is a must-have piece. Again, it might be the way you just listed on SAF for brevity, but it's difficult to see what you consider "anchoring" activities. The bowling ball thing sounds more like you are just one person bowling.

However, the one that really caught my attention was this:
Delivery driver, 11th to present

Is that as in, pizza delivery? Was it? How many hours? Required to support household, like pay the light bill or put food on the table, self-support the car expenses, etc? That sounds like a tough, thankless underpaid job. You are responsible for making timely deliveries - regardless of the circumstances, traffic, ability to locate apartment #, etc. You get screwed on tips. You might work very late night shifts driving. You have to adhere to company standards, safety standards, Covid world, dealing with difficult people. There are so many essay themes to pizza delivery drivers, I personally love it.
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Hey, I realized I never answered but you have me a great response.

First of all, the ACT was actually my very first ACT/SAT ever, so I am really happy I did so well. I honestly left expecting a 27/28 so there was a huge burst of excitement when my score was released. I kind of took the ACT on a whim as I never expected to do so well, I just wanted to try it out and maybe give me an extra chance for a good test score in this wild cycle. Funny thing was all of my studying consisted of a single practice test on which I got a 28. I was banking on my SAT being better since I was much more familiar with the format from the PSAT and I thought the SAT would be more forgiving in terms of time. However, I took the SAT and my score was 1440, which actually equates to slightly less than my ACT 33! I just took the SAT again a week ago and am positive I improved Math, I am now expecting my super score to be in the high 1400s. With both a high SAT super score and my single ACT score being where it's at hopefully this will look great to admissions!

In terms of leadership, I have joined a few more clubs this year and expect to add at least one more leadership position in either Math League or varsity baseball, so I feel I am looking better there.

Finally, I never considered delivery driving to be something worth writing about, but now that you have brought it up, it seems like an interesting topic. I need to try to fit it into one of the prompts (any idea which prompt it would work best in?).

Thanks again for such a diligent and brutally honest response.
Regards,
A USAFA '25 Hopeful
 
maschneider93 said:
Hey, I realized I never answered but you have me a great response.

First of all, the ACT was actually my very first ACT/SAT ever, so I am really happy I did so well. I honestly left expecting a 27/28 so there was a huge burst of excitement when my score was released. I kind of took the ACT on a whim as I never expected to do so well, I just wanted to try it out and maybe give me an extra chance for a good test score in this wild cycle. Funny thing was all of my studying consisted of a single practice test on which I got a 28. I was banking on my SAT being better since I was much more familiar with the format from the PSAT and I thought the SAT would be more forgiving in terms of time. However, I took the SAT and my score was 1440, which actually equates to slightly less than my ACT 33! I just took the SAT again a week ago and am positive I improved Math, I am now expecting my super score to be in the high 1400s. With both a high SAT super score and my single ACT score being where it's at hopefully this will look great to admissions!

In terms of leadership, I have joined a few more clubs this year and expect to add at least one more leadership position in either Math League or varsity baseball, so I feel I am looking better there.

Finally, I never considered delivery driving to be something worth writing about, but now that you have brought it up, it seems like an interesting topic. I need to try to fit it into one of the prompts (any idea which prompt it would work best in?).

Thanks again for such a diligent and brutally honest response.
Regards,
A USAFA '25 Hopeful
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Actually, with 35's for ACT, unless your SAT is REALLY high, they will just use your ACT. Lots of applicants take just one of them and in this case your ACT is pretty high.
 
OldRetSWO said:
Actually, with 35's for ACT, unless your SAT is REALLY high, they will just use your ACT. Lots of applicants take just one of them and in this case your ACT is pretty high.
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You mean 35's for multiple categories, right, not for composite? Obviously, my composite is 33, which I still believe is really good. What SAT super score would I need to "beat" (for them to consider SAT over ACT) my ACT score? Over 1500? Over 1550? Also, is this for USNA, USAFA, or both? Thanks! 😃
 
maschneider93 said:
You mean 35's for multiple categories, right, not for composite? Obviously, my composite is 33, which I still believe is really good. What SAT super score would I need to "beat" (for them to consider SAT over ACT) my ACT score? Over 1500? Over 1550? Also, is this for USNA, USAFA, or both? Thanks! 😃
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ACT is somewhat of a regional "thing", I'm told that it is much more prevalent in the Midwest and the vast majority of my Northeastern US candidates who I have interviewed have only taken the SAT. USNA looks at SAT and if better or/no SAT, they will look at the ACT. Since SAT is
ONLY Math and English (verbal), then that is what they will look at when using ACT. Period
I'm not as close the the USAFA process but given that they will accept the SAT OR the ACT, they have to treat them the same so I would expect the same from them so don't worry about the composite score.
 
OldRetSWO said:
ACT is somewhat of a regional "thing", I'm told that it is much more prevalent in the Midwest and the vast majority of my Northeastern US candidates who I have interviewed have only taken the SAT. USNA looks at SAT and if better or/no SAT, they will look at the ACT. Since SAT is
ONLY Math and English (verbal), then that is what they will look at when using ACT. Period
I'm not as close the the USAFA process but given that they will accept the SAT OR the ACT, they have to treat them the same so I would expect the same from them so don't worry about the composite score.
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So you are saying USNA and likely USAFA ONLY look at ACT Math and ACT English, not ACT Reading and ACT Science Reasoning?
 
Opinion time again!
Look up ACT/SAT CONCORDANCE table. 33 = 1460; HOWEVER, it could be higher for the SAs that mainly look at E/M. Remember that all tests are precurved, you never know if you will have an "easy" test or "hard" one, at which point missing 1 problem will seriously hurt a stratospheric score attempt. I think USNA super DUPER scores - but verify. The other good thing is your GPA and class schedule match/reaffirm scores across your academic criteria.

Spend time on your CFA! You are a bit "light" on athletics, not really mentioning achievements other than participation in JV Ball10, Varsity 11 12. By anchoring with a very strong CFA, it will confirm you have the athletic chops to succeed at USAFA...and then join the bowling team, haha!

Regarding delivery driver essay: I'll assume pizza, just for simplicity. This is very opinionated, so you will have to parse what I write to what is actually your situation. I would love to read one where you Drop the Needle, examples such as - put me in the backseat of your car, smelling and feeling a hot pepperoni pizza, or put me on the doorstep with you just as you ring the doorbell to The Cabin the the Woods, or put me driving in circles at 11:59pm on a dark street with gunshots as your GPS repeats "recalculating...recalculating..." and then go into your problem/dilemma, situation....and then how you handled it, demonstrating (ie SHOWING) that you have the characteristics that SAs want! As far as category - it can be anything from a time you failed to the essay about "show me one more thing about you we don't already know and wasn't repeated elsewhere". If you go up to 10 people and say "pizza delivery", i'll bet 10 people smile, and no one frowns. You are starting from a positive and well known, universal experience. Most people will be saying in their heads, ok! This is going to be a good story about pizza delivery! So you are already on a positive footing when you begin. Also makes for a good common app essay!
 
maschneider93 said:
So you are saying USNA and likely USAFA ONLY look at ACT Math and ACT English, not ACT Reading and ACT Science Reasoning?
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Think this through, if they use your reading & Science then what will they use for the candidates who don't take the ACT (I estimate half or more). Think of it this way, the "standard" test used is the SAT and they will use the ACT when necessary or when advantageous to the applicant. In math terms, the Lowest Common Denominator is use of Math and English scores.
 
OldRetSWO said:
Think this through, if they use your reading & Science then what will they use for the candidates who don't take the ACT (I estimate half or more). Think of it this way, the "standard" test used is the SAT and they will use the ACT when necessary or when advantageous to the applicant. In math terms, the Lowest Common Denominator is use of Math and English scores.
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Doesn’t the SAT have a reading as well as a verbal section?
 
JP51 said:
nice I take
TOK
Eng sl
math hl
phy hl
chem hl
econ hl
and Spanish sl
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Glad to see there's more IB candidates trying to apply to the academies. I'm a senior right now and I take:
English HL (Required at school)
Math HL
Bio HL
Social and Cultural Anthropology SL
Chemistry SL (Got a 5 due to IA not being strong, and that was how they graded for scores last year with no tests)
Spanish SL II (At my school they give it twice to ensure a higher test score, I took spanish in 8th grade)
 
Just take both tests. It's a lot of preparation but it may lead to better opportunities.
 
benfoster0 said:
I hold this job as well, and didn't even look at it this way. Thank you for this.
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Think of it as writing a script for a movie. It has To be something people will want to see. It’s in the unique details.

Make them want to see your movie. Sell it, don’t be shy!!
 
and with the Delivery driving, have you advanced in any way? Have you gotten better shifts? Become team lead? Are there any metrics that are kept? If so, have you improved?
 
I could be off on this, but...I wouldn't make a part-time delivery driver job out to be more than it is. If I am reading your essay, I don't put a lot of value in your delivery driving acumen. However, time management associated with juggling good grades, ec 's sports and part time job is very interesting. Maybe you had a moral dilemma associated with work or a teamwork story possibly, but otherwise, the fact that you had to handle work hours in addition to everything else is a great lesson to learn and something needed as a USAFA cadet
 
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