How to prepare for AFA in high school?

Q

QLintz

5-Year Member
Joined
May 17, 2011
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10
I am in high school, 10th grade at the moment. What can I do in high school to help my chances of getting into the USAFA when I graduate high school.

I am an all A student, top 25 of my class. I am occupied with marching band and varsity singer's band to do any sports really... I am in this Youth Leadership Academy that will be starting up, I hope that can compensate for the no-sport thing (THOUGH, I did complete one year of soccer for my school freshman year).

Anything else I can do to prepare, I am determined to get into this college. I've been researching it for a while.

Thanks

~Quentin
 
Keep doing well in school. Stay active in extracurriculars. Stay physically fit. Stay out of trouble. Apply for the summer seminar which takes place the summer after your junior year (application usually starts in December).
 
Summer seminar at the AFA in Colorado?

Another question that I just thought of, so you don't have to have 4 years of sports to go to the USAFA, right?
I am extracurricularly active, 2 bands I'm in. I stay fit and go to the gym at least 3 times a week.
 
I’m trying to put this in a way that wont discourage you but not sugar coat it either. Based off of previous classes you’ll be in the minority by not having sports. Go to this link https://aloweb.usafa.edu/candidatekit/CK15/Forms/OnlineInstructiontoCand.pdf it has a lot of the information you’ll be looking for. It say this about extracurricular:

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES:
Participation in a variety of athletic and non-athletic high school activities is an asset in preparing for the demanding Academy
program. Sustained participation and leadership in a few activities is desirable. Examples for a typical class include:
SAMPLE Activity
Percent
Varsity sports team member 96%
Varsity sports letter(s) 83%
National Honor Society, Beta Club, etc. 65%
Student Body/Council/Class President/Vice President 15%
Band or Orchestra 25%
Dramatics or Debate Participant 23%
School Publication Staff Member 14%
Boy/Girl Scouts 28%
Click to expand...
Only ~4% didn't play a sport...I’m not saying that you can’t get in but if you’re looking to maximize your chance then play a sport. At the same time don’t play a sport just to check the box. Do what makes you happy and have fun doing it. Become a leader in your activities and shoot for max scores on the CFA.
 
Thank you. I am thinking about doing track this year (well, next year) for 10th grade.
What about if I start doing karate a lot again, will that count? Or must it be a school sport?

ALSO, what is the minimum height requirement? I am about 5' 6" right now, which I know is small.. My parents think I should be a pilot, I even may want to.
 
OK, I personally know the karate instructor. Do you think if I JUST do karate, I'll have a good chance of getting in, on top of what I've already showed you?

I think I'll join track too if I can get the time.
 
Apply Apply apply…. Oh and by the way if I didn’t make it clear apply! :biggrin: Let me say this… none of us on here can tell you if you’ll make it or not based on what you’ve told us… even if you posted all of application requirements on here in detail we couldn’t tell you if you’ll make it… only the admission people at the various academies can tell you that in the year you apply. The only thing we can tell you with 100% accuracy is if you DON’T apply you won’t get in.

What I recommend to you is do a littler research of the different degrees available at the AFA (and the other service academies…you never know you may want to attend USMA instead). Also research the different jobs for officer in the USAF (and the other branches as well) that way you can see what’s out there.

As for the pilot things do searches on the forum… it’s discussed at great lengths… or look at PIMA and Bullets posts on the topic. They have without a doubt the most post on this topic from an AF perspective and their post go into a lot of great detail on what it takes. Scoutpiolt has a lot of info on Flying Army if you go that route… As far as the other branches I don’t know because it’s the only two I’ve research so I don’t know of good contacts.
 
You are fine in height, I'm pretty sure. Look online at the Academy catalog and it will tell you the specifics- http://www.academyadmissions.com/img/assets/PDF/Entire_Catalog.pdf

QLintz said:
Summer seminar at the AFA in Colorado?
Click to expand...
Yes, the Summer Seminar is at USAFA. It's a week long program where you do classes and briefings, live at the Academy and eat at Mitchell hall. At the end, they do "doolie for a day," where they do a scaled down version of the "training" you get as a freshman.

Karate would probably count as a sport, but you would probably do well to go for track. Personally, I'm not doing any sports because my school was so small that it couldn't offer it, so I filled my time with other XC's and played sports whenever I could, such as with pickup games (not necessarily for the Academy, but because I like sports that much).

If aviation interests you, there are currently many slots for pilots. Almost half of each class has gone for UPT- Undergraduate Pilot Training. According to the Academy, virtually every cadet that is medically qualified and wants to can go to training.
 
Awesome! Sounds great.
I heard that you have to play on an AFA team as a student?
No problem for me at all. I'll work as hard as I can everyday to achieve this.

Thanks for your answers, all of you.
 
There are three levels of organized sports at the academy, and every cadet must do at least one. There are the NCAA Div I teams, competitive clubs, and intramural teams. Most cadets just do intramurals with their squadron.
 
The last list of intramurals I saw was the following from the Curriculum Handbook effective Fall 2010 so it might have changed since then but it’ll give you a general idea of what’s offered at the AFA.

The C = Coed, M = Males only, F = Females only

Intramural
C AEROBICS
C BASKETBALL
C BOWLING
M BOXING
C CROSS COUNTRY
C FOREIGN EXCHANGE
C FLAG FOOTBALL
C FLICKER BALL
C MOUNTAIN CYCLING
C OTHER
F RUGBY
M RUGBY
C RECONDITION
C RACQUETBALL
C SOFTBALL
C SOCCER
C TEAM HANDBALL
C TENNIS
C ULTIMATE FRISBEE
C VOLLEYBALL
C WALLYBALL
C WING DUTY
C WATER POLO
C WEIGHT TRAINING

Edit: No clue what other is but it's listed and has a code for it
 
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I'll play the sports minority card. :) I was part of the 4% with no varsity level (or any high school organized) sport at all. I did Taekwondo from the age of 11 until I entered USAFA. I was told specifically by the counselors at USAFA the reason I did not receive an LOA (early admittance) was because I lacked high school team sports. Keep in mind I was a state champion (TX) for TKD and ranked in the top ten in the world for my rank/age. Despite strong credentials there, they still much favored high school team sports.

So, if you can choose between varsity/JV track or karate, I would advocate track. However, don't do track if you don't like/love it. Better to do well in karate than be miserable in track, IMO.

All that said, I'm a 2010 USAFA grad, it can be done!
 
PLEASE READ THIS THREAD:

http://www.serviceacademyforums.com/showthread.php?t=20546

As for sports.... I won't say: "No sport.... No Appointment". I won't say that. But I will say that I know personally of a 4.0gpa, Top-10 in their class, 35ACT, 2300 SAT, who DID NOT receive an appointment to the academy. They didn't have ANY SPORTS, and most of their "Leadership" and extra curricular activities definitely seemed more "Application Filler" than legitimate. As already mentioned, if you don't do athletics, you are at a major disadvantage. Also as said, it doesn't have to be high school, but the preference is that it's a "Team Sport", organized, "They KEEP SCORE" (Meaning it's competitive, not a "Church Softball League". Best of luck.
 
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