SAT and ACT Scores

AirForceProud

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I am currently a candidate for the Air Force Academy and am about to take the ACT in September. I was looking online and I saw that people who got below even 20 have been accepted. I am very confused by this, for this is 10 points below the required/average score at USAFA. Can someone explain to me how this is possible??
 
The best thing is to focus on your own application and not look left or right. The SAs use a range of attributes, traits, achievements, scores, grades, etc., to fill out a class. That person may have had stellar grades in an academically demanding HS, #1 in the class, Eagle Scout, varsity athlete and notable leader, or some combo of these and others.

An average score is just that - there will be some lower than the average. You are not seeing the totality of that person’s package and never will. Proof positive it’s not all about the grades.

Just do your own best and don’t spend energy or time on others.
 
Rest assured that if someone received offer of appointment with an ACT well below average, that there was something truly exemplary about him/her. Decisions are based on the totality of the candidate, not a single aspect. So unless there’s something truly extraordinary about you that USAFA values, then as Capt MJ says, focus on your own test scores and what you need to do to get accepted.
 
To me it seems that people don't quite understand the whole "holistic approach to admissions" that USAFA and the other SAs have. Yes, it does mean they look at academics, athletics and leadership, but as far as I know, USAFA Admissions actually does go for the "whole person." This is primarily evident in their request for a school profile from the counselor. If the board only cared about making money off of sorry kids who don't know any better, then they probably wouldn't have offered an appointment to someone with a 20 ACT score. But, because they want to know what exactly kind of school you're from, they absolutely want to know everything about you. Most colleges don't even care about what high school you're from for admissions. Even Ivies don't check that as far as I know.
Perhaps that person had 4.0 with all college courses for two years, maxed the CFA, was president and team captain of 7 different things and simultaneously worked a part time job to support his siblings, or to pay for a relative's cancer treatment, while still taking first at State sports and academic competitions. But he was just a bad test taker, or could only afford to take a single ACT and bombed it because it was the first standardized test he took in his life. And even so, a 20 on the ACT is only at the 51st percentile, so it's not as if a flunkie made it in.
Regardless, the "whole person" approach to admissions is really just that. There's a reason they go through so many difficult steps for admission including the nomimations process; they want to separate the wheat from the chaff. And even so, if you're fully qualified, you have a little under a 55% chance at getting an appointment, based on past years.
So really, just be the best person you can possibly be. If anything, seeing someone with a 20 ACT score should be emboldening, since that tells you that they care about you as a person, and not just as a number. They have to care, since you're worth over $400,000 to them.

Also, don't take this as a point that you can slack off in the ACT. This guy is absolutely an outlier, but likely an outlier in positive ways as well.
 
Hear, hear, KansasMan. I’m going to go out on a limb and say the candidate with sub-20 ACT had some ungodly leadership impact in his/her community and was an inspiration and example to those around him/her. The academies and military, when all is said and done, want leaders — very smart leaders, to be sure, but leaders first and foremost.
 
ACT and SAT's are just one component of a very complex and quite frankly closed system of evaluation. You may be lower than average in one area, and extremely talented in something else, and you can get the nod of approval.
 
A below 20 ACT score will not qualify you for admission. These are most likely students that have some highly desired attribute in the other areas and demonstrated at the prep school that they can handle the academic load. The academy uses a "whole candidate" approach but there are minimums to ensure that those who are offered can survive the four years.

Remember how the process works, If you are a high school applicant, you are most likely competing for the slot of your local congressman and depending on the state you live in, maybe a Senator's slot as well. Reality is that you are competing against 2-5 other candidates and the highest ranked candidate wins. Those other candidates will have statistics closer to the normal averages published each year. Do your best and do not worry about things that you cannot control.
 
USMA 1994 speaks the truth. His advice to "not worry" is critical. I can only stress this too much, apply to multiple institutions.
 
Don't misinterpret "not worry" with you are good with your current ACT scores. If you don't have 31+ then you best bust your butt to get them as high as possible.
 
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