College Freshman to USAFA or USAFA Preppie

S

SpaceHopper

Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2024
Messages
11
I just have one question. Has anyone who reapplied as a college freshman been accepted into the prep school? Or is the prep school only for those coming straight out of high school or enlistment?
 
Okay, I'm going to be "Debbie Downer."

In my 29 years as an ALO, I've never heard of a college student being sent to the prep school. While I've never been told they won't do it, I can't see any reason that USAFA would do it.

Why?

Because if you're in college already and competitive enough for USAFA to take a look, you don't need the prep school. You've proven you can perform at the collegiate level. The prep school is for those that need a bit of help to reach the level you're already at.

So...I wouldn't expect to be selected for the prep school if you're a college applicant.

Steve
USAFA ALO
(Mentor and Evaluator)
 
flieger83 said:
Okay, I'm going to be "Debbie Downer."

In my 29 years as an ALO, I've never heard of a college student being sent to the prep school. While I've never been told they won't do it, I can't see any reason that USAFA would do it.

Why?

Because if you're in college already and competitive enough for USAFA to take a look, you don't need the prep school. You've proven you can perform at the collegiate level. The prep school is for those that need a bit of help to reach the level you're already at.

So...I wouldn't expect to be selected for the prep school if you're a college applicant.

Steve
USAFA ALO
(Mentor and Evaluator)
Click to expand...
I’ve actually heard that a free agent has been offered official prep school before and several free agents have been offered FFS for the following year.

Then again, free agents technically aren’t quite college students so I wouldn’t know. Its probably happened just super rare.
 
SpaceHopper said:
I just have one question. Has anyone who reapplied as a college freshman been accepted into the prep school? Or is the prep school only for those coming straight out of high school or enlistment?
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Yes, I know someone who did a year of ROTC, then a year of prep, and is now a cadet.
 
pnwski said:
Yes, I know someone who did a year of ROTC, then a year of prep, and is now a cadet.
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I also know a ROTC cadet that was offered prep school last year but declined the prep school appointment since she was going to get a commission sooner staying on her current ROTC path.
 
flieger83 said:
Okay, I'm going to be "Debbie Downer."

In my 29 years as an ALO, I've never heard of a college student being sent to the prep school. While I've never been told they won't do it, I can't see any reason that USAFA would do it.

Why?

Because if you're in college already and competitive enough for USAFA to take a look, you don't need the prep school. You've proven you can perform at the collegiate level. The prep school is for those that need a bit of help to reach the level you're already at.

So...I wouldn't expect to be selected for the prep school if you're a college applicant.

Steve
USAFA ALO
(Mentor and Evaluator)
Click to expand...
Actually one of the Preppies with my oldest DS last year was from college so they actually can but it is not very common. Certainly not something I would plan on but you just never know.
 
Thank you all for your experiences. Those are the FIRST I've heard of as an ALO, including when I went through ALO training and that question was asked. We were told, "Not impossible, but highly unlikely." So...good to know!!
 
I would agree with @flieger83. Not impossible, but highly unlikely.

My path was 1 year of community college -> enlistment -> USAFA Prep.

During my admissions cycle, I was flagged as ineligible for the prep school precisely because I had a year of community college. Unfortunately, I could not receive a direct appointment because USAFA was not offering direct appointments to prior-E applicants that year. The policy was to offer qualified prior-E applicants a USAFA Prep appointment.

It seemed I was going to have to wait and reapply the following year. Then a user on this forum, who worked in admissions at the time but is now retired, saw my posts and sent me a private messaged about my application. They said that my situation caught their eye because the result was not consistent with prior-E policy for that admissions cycle. A few hours later my portal updated with a USAFA prep appointment.

I still think about that sometimes. I think it's one of the main reasons I've hung around here all this time.
 
flieger83 said:
Okay, I'm going to be "Debbie Downer."

In my 29 years as an ALO, I've never heard of a college student being sent to the prep school. While I've never been told they won't do it, I can't see any reason that USAFA would do it.

Why?

Because if you're in college already and competitive enough for USAFA to take a look, you don't need the prep school. You've proven you can perform at the collegiate level. The prep school is for those that need a bit of help to reach the level you're already at.

So...I wouldn't expect to be selected for the prep school if you're a college applicant.

Steve
USAFA ALO
(Mentor and Evaluator)
Click to expand...
This year while in college, I have all A’s besides a high B in Applied Trigonometry (Engineering Degree). However, I took the ACT last year in March 2023 (non-Saturday due to religious reasons), and I got a 24 composite. I know thats VERY LOW for USAFA. But, I also know that it’s not that low for prep school. Even though I have proved to excel in college level courses, I know that USAFA HIGHLY favors the ACT/SAT. Would they take into consideration my college grades and GPA, or will the ACT completely disqualify me?
 
SpaceHopper said:
This year while in college, I have all A’s besides a high B in Applied Trigonometry (Engineering Degree). However, I took the ACT last year in March 2023 (non-Saturday due to religious reasons), and I got a 24 composite. I know thats VERY LOW for USAFA. But, I also know that it’s not that low for prep school. Even though I have proved to excel in college level courses, I know that USAFA HIGHLY favors the ACT/SAT. Would they take into consideration my college grades and GPA, or will the ACT completely disqualify me?
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I know that I should have retaken the ACT, but by time I began re-applying for USAFA, the deadline to register for the last ACT for consideration had closed.
 
SpaceHopper said:
This year while in college, I have all A’s besides a high B in Applied Trigonometry (Engineering Degree). However, I took the ACT last year in March 2023 (non-Saturday due to religious reasons), and I got a 24 composite. I know thats VERY LOW for USAFA. But, I also know that it’s not that low for prep school. Even though I have proved to excel in college level courses, I know that USAFA HIGHLY favors the ACT/SAT. Would they take into consideration my college grades and GPA, or will the ACT completely disqualify me?
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The only people who can definitely say whether or not it will disqualify you is the admissions team for USAFA. You can see their 2023 average here: https://www.usafa.edu/the-breakdown-class-of-2023-stats/. From https://www.collegetuitioncompare.com/edu/128328/united-states-air-force-academy/admission/, it looks like the median is a bit below 1400 for SATs. (I used the conversion from https://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice/act-to-sat-conversion to do the ACT -> SAT conversion). But, they do look at the whole candidate picture, so fingers crossed for you.
 
AFrpaso said:
I would agree with @flieger83. Not impossible, but highly unlikely.

My path was 1 year of community college -> enlistment -> USAFA Prep.

During my admissions cycle, I was flagged as ineligible for the prep school precisely because I had a year of community college. Unfortunately, I could not receive a direct appointment because USAFA was not offering direct appointments to prior-E applicants that year. The policy was to offer qualified prior-E applicants a USAFA Prep appointment.

It seemed I was going to have to wait and reapply the following year. Then a user on this forum, who worked in admissions at the time but is now retired, saw my posts and sent me a private messaged about my application. They said that my situation caught their eye because the result was not consistent with prior-E policy for that admissions cycle. A few hours later my portal updated with a USAFA prep appointment.

I still think about that sometimes. I think it's one of the main reasons I've hung around here all this time.
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Would it still be safe for my application if I go down the enlisted route for a year? I am in my first year of community college, and I wouldn’t mind enlisting for a year. But I’m not sure if it would be safe for my application if I have one year of community college, and then leave to do one year of enlistment. I know that the air force offers community college courses, so if I do this on the side, would it still count towards for my application? I would like to try for a direct appointment if I go down this route, because I think my stats are high enough (besides my ACT which I can take again during my year of enlistment). I am still very young and therefore wouldn’t mind. I graduated high school at 16, and just turned 17, so I have been applying for class of 2028, but I wouldn’t mind trying again and applying for class of 29’ :)
 
My son is a 3C3 at USAFA who went to college for a year before applying. During his application they “suggested” he retake is SAT. He had a 710M and 640E. Retake your ACT but also consider taking the SAT. As a teacher I see students yearly who do poorly on one of the tests but then excel at the other.

Don’t stop chasing your dream.
 
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