Happy Friday! With prog done, we're halfway through the semester, and strats are out! I'm fairly content with my current strat (middle third), but I'm hoping to be top ten by end of semester. I was wondering what advice someone might offer, to be stratted higher.
Strat
- Thread starter AFA25
- Start date
USAFA_86
USAFA class of 2025
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2019
- Messages
- 276
I was ranked #2 in my squadron and I think there were two main things that got me there. First, and most important, find things to do in squad. I frequently offer to take my squad's trash down to the trash compactor, make sure the flight boards look good, and jump at every opportunity to be more involved. I would also recommend leading K-test study sessions. It is easy to make a quizlet or kahoot over the probook and it is extremely helpful to your peers. Second, become friends with your upperclassmen (professionally of course) because they are the ones that will be ranking you. I make a note to ask how their days are going at lunch every day and they are usually pretty appreciative. Overall, be active in squad, be a nice person, and go out of your way to form relationships.
Would you mind sharing what is strat and how is it being measured? thanks!
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2012
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- 1,098
"Strat" is short for stratification and is the practice of ranking, or "racking and stacking", members within a squadron for the purpose of assigning Military Performance Average (MPA) scores. The MPA, GPA, and PEA (physical education average) all factor into the OPA (overall performance average) which determines a cadet's class rank and consequently impacts job selection. I believe the current weights are OPA = 50% GPA + 40% MPA + 10% PEA.
As far as I am aware, this "strat" is NOT the only factor driving MPA. There are other objective measures like personal appearance, daily, and "Saturday ante-meridian" room inspections. If you really want to dive into the details, then you can look up USAFA Instruction 36-2401 which is the policy guidance outlining the system.
You need to discuss this with your chain. Only your flight Comm knows why you were stratted there. But typically, you need to be doing a lot of above and beyond things in squad WITH numerical numbers and its impact. Ex. If you helped with a front-porch Thursday, feeding the squad you would put: Volunteered for front-porch Thursday, feeding +70 cadets, resulting in increased brainpower and morale of the squad.
McNerdious
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2021
- Messages
- 4
As a 25er at USAFA right now who got stratted reasonably high, I would say that the best you can do is be visible and known to your upperclassmen. Don't hide in the library at the end of the day, come back to squad. In my squad the top stratted Doolies are the ones that are always in squad, doing well with their greetings in the hallway and going to all the training sessions and putting out. They also answer the most K-Bowl questions and generally know their knowledge at other times. If your upperclassmen don't know who you are, they won't strat you as high. I think its a bit of a different grading system at prog vs. the end of the semester, but if you are showing up and putting out, they will see it and rank you higher.