Requesting information on "early action"

[FastFalcon7]

Hello all. I just got denied to the Summer Seminar (class of 2020), but I know my application was automatically updated to the actual application. I've heard about 'early action' here and there, but I haven't the slightest idea what it is... Someone please help. I'm very grateful!

• What is it?
• Who is allowed to apply/receive early action?
• When are 'early action' candidates accepted?
• Anything else I might want to know, but don't know to ask...

Once again, thanks everyone!

 

[MJP]

An early look at applications completed by a certain date. It's USAFA's way of letting those top candidates-that would get accepted to nearly any school-where they stand early in the process. Academy was losing a lot of qualified candidates to other schools during the admissions process so came up with EA.
Everyone whose application is completed by a certain date
Depends, if at all... some get early notification of an appointment offer, while most go on to the regular decision period we are now in. And many get the dreaded qualified not selected...
Yes, look at the USAFA admissions website FAQs and you will get a more thorough explanation of EA.

One more piece of advice-don't use your real name on forums...if you do get an acceptance, you may find that your detailer knows way more about you and your posts that you would really want them to.

 

[Patriot2119]

As far as I understand, anybody who is entered into the candidate phase from July 1st up until October 31st can apply under early action. In order to apply under early action you have to submit your entire application (including ALO interview and dodmerb) by November 1st. If you do complete your entire application by then USAFA will notify you by January 15th if you've been accepted, rejected, given a letter of assurance, or deferred to regular selection.

Keep in mind that if you're deferred to regular selection you may not receive an appointment until late April. Because of this you can't really say when EA applicants get accepted because while some get accepted in October most will be deferred to regular selection.

 

[BlahuKahuna]

One more piece of advice-don't use your real name on forums...if you do get an acceptance, you may find that your detailer knows way more about you and your posts that you would really want them to.

You also may want to remove "fighter pilot" as your occupation and "USAFA c/o 2018" from your facebook profile.

 

[FastFalcon7]

Can I change my username on this forum, or would I have to delete the account and create a new one?

 

[Christcorp]

A. Unless you have something to hide or don't want others to know your name, don't worry about it. If you really care, just create a new account. You only have 2 posts. It's not a big deal.

B. If I had my way, which I dont, I'd get rid of the early application process. First of all, it wasn't intended for you, the applicant. It was intended for the academy to try and entice and get committed, more of the stellar applicants. The applicants who WILL be accepted to numerous colleges, universities, and even other academies. If they can let that stellar applicant know of an appointment in Oct, Nov, or Dec, then they may accept it instead of one of their other many options. Vs. waiting to hear until March-April when they may have already accepted one of their many other choices.

As for the EA process, pretty much everyone is EA eligible. I had 12 applicants this year. All of them were EA eligible. Next, unless you're one of the stellar applicants, meaning the top 10% or better, you'll probably be in the same boat as most of the other applicants. You'll find out if you received an appointment in March-April. If you are one of the stellar applicants, and you finished your application prior to November 1st, you'll find out on or before January. Depending if you received a nomination or not by then.

Point is, if you are the 3.95-4.00 unweighted Gpa applicant, with 30+ACT or 700+SAT scores, have tons of extra curricular activities, sports, volunteer time, leadership, etc. and pretty much will get accepted to any school you apply to, then YES, the EA program will allow you to know sooner instead of you accepting one of the other options because you haven't heard from the academy yet. If you aren't that student, then it doesn't matter.

And for what it's worth...... NO...... You don't get any extra points or extra consideration because you have EA status. Like I said, pretty much everyone is eligible.

 

[USAFA83GradWife]

...If I had my way, which I dont, I'd get rid of the early application process. First of all, it wasn't intended for you, the applicant. It was intended for the academy to try and entice and get committed, more of the stellar applicants. The applicants who WILL be accepted to numerous colleges, universities, and even other academies. If they can let that stellar applicant know of an appointment in Oct, Nov, or Dec, then they may accept it instead of one of their other many options. Vs. waiting to hear until March-April when they may have already accepted one of their many other choices.
doesn't matter.

I, for one, am very grateful for EA. Last year, DD had already gotten an appt from USNA in Dec and was ready to sign when the EA appt for USAFA came in. My husband said he'd be proud of her with either choice, but there's an obvious bias . Without EA, we'd be flying to Annapolis for visits.

 

[Christcorp]

I probably should have qualified my statement. I probably should have said that if I had my way, I would have made it more clear, exactly what the EA program is. So many misunderstand what it is. They get excited because they have EA status, but then they get very discouraged because they don't receive an appointment early; and they believe that they've been turned down.

The easiest way I like to explain it, is to compare it to how a number of universities have "Early Acceptance" in the fall. For their stellar applicants, if you apply in the fall, you can find out much sooner than most other applicants after Christmas. Again; even those colleges do this to "Compete" with other schools for the more desirable applicants. Not that those who are selected during the normal selection aren't desirable. They are... Simply that ALL schools, and ALL seasons of applicants, have a certain number of applicants that simply stand out above the others. They are basically the applicant that will get accepted to pretty much any school they apply to. The school compete heavily for these applicants. These are the applicants who are going to help give the school the better numbers when being ranked.