This may sound harsh, but it is meant to make you the best candidate you can be from a WCS perspective. WCS = WHOLE CANDIDATE. They don't want just the books smart, or the jock or the kid with 5000 volunteer hrs. They want the candidate with all 3
1. Academics (PAR)
~ No offense, but it is my pet peeve when posters say my gpa is X.YZ. It may sound great, but remember that on your official transcript they will state things, such as if it is on a 7 pt or 10 pt scale. What the weight scale is for honors/AP/IBs. How many students take AP/IBs. Class rank. So on and so forth. Thus, you can tell us you have a 3.7, but in the end HQ AFROTC will do their own algorithm using your school profile to determine what they consider your gpa is. There are tens of thousands of high schools across the nation. The scholarship is national, thus, they have to mathematically create a system so the candidates are all on the same playing field. Our DS's went up bc his HS used a 7 pt scale, with a 4.5 weight scale for AP, whereas, some go down bc the HS uses a 10 pt with a 5.0 weight scale.
~ If you are applying next yr., it will be the same as if you would be applying as a SR in HS, with some caveats which I will get to later. However, the big point is HQ AFROTC does not take into account anything from your SR yr, be it classes or leadership, they only thing they do take into account is a new SAT/ACT.
~~ You need to be careful of how many college credits you take, bc there is a limit for the HSSP. I doubt you will hit it, but beware.
~ SAT/ACT is best sitting, not superscore, so pound it out to be at least 33 since your ECS are weak. If you can take the PSAT, do so for multiple reasons. 1st is if you score in the 95 percentile, you will be eligible for the NMSF, which looks good on your resume. 2nd some kids do better on the SAT than the ACT.
2. ECs
~ You need to step up your game here, as in yesterday. The reason they look at ECs is bc it shows that while maintaining a high gpa, they are juggling life outside of the classroom at the same time. Again, they don't want just the book smart kid.
~~ AFROTC scholarship is national, HQ couldn't care if Ole Miss has 100% or 0% on scholarship, unlike AROTC and NROTC where it is tied to both the cadet and the school. They say we have 942 scholarships, top 942 get the scholarship regardless of the school they are attending or the state they are from.
~~~ AFROTC and USAFA do not talk regarding scholarships or appointments. 95% of USAFA candidates will apply for AFROTC as plan B, but 95% of AFROTC candidates will not apply to USAFA as plan B. Point being, you are also competing against USAFA candidates too.
Just saying, you can't leave points on the table, get involved now with something you love, and something you will stick with for the next yr or 2. Get a job at Target and still volunteer. Show them you more than just go to school and home with 15 hrs a week volunteering.
3. PFA
~ This is the one area you truly control. Although it may seem the pts are low from the WCS aspect, in the end only about 16-18% of applicants will be awarded a scholarship, and it can come down to a tenth of a decimal point on their WCS. You don't want to look back and say if I ran only 30 seconds faster or did two more pushups.
~~ PFA matters to activate the scholarship too. You bust it and they will not activate it until you pass. Busting it 1x is not uncommon that 1st week in ROTC because of form (push up/sit ups, lack of training over the summer, or fair weather training---nice weather days), but you are immediately on their radar, twice and you are in trouble.
4. Majors
~ Got to ask you only have 2 APs, and they are in English. Where do you stand with Chem, Physics, Calc, etc? The problem with going STEM aka TECH for AFROTC is if you are awarded a scholarship and decide to go non-tech, you will most likely lose the AFROTC scholarship.
5. CC
~ You can join AFROTC as a student at a CC, non-contracted. It is what people call x-town dets. IOWS, you will go to school at your local CC, and on certain days you will go to the host college for PT and LLAB. Beware that host school can be 15 mins away, or 60 mins.
~~ You don't have to, but you may want to, especially if your local CC is attached to Ole Miss. Another reason why even if Ole Miss is not the host, is because, as much as you think you want AFROTC as a 16 yr old, once in the program reality sinks in regarding what AFROTC is like as a college student and what your future will look like upon graduation/commissioning. You could do the yr at CC, not do AFROTC, go to Ole Miss and hate the program. Or you can go xtown in CC and realize once at Ole Miss you have no desire to be in AFROTC and make your life easier once there.
Sorry for the novella, but I really think it is important you see the big picture at this point since you are graduating so young from HS. I truly wish you every best hope and thoughts in the world. Go for it. Shore up the holes in your resume now so you can present the best packet next July/Aug for the Oct. board in 2019, 2020 FY scholarships. If you decide to wait until the 2020 boards, 2021 FY you will not be an HSSP because you will have over 30 credits.
