Thoughts on acceptance

Cwolfpack137

Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2015
Messages
24
First off id like to say that yeah this is another post about concerns for acceptance into an academy. With that out of the way lets get crackin

I'll be a Junior starting this year in high school. My freshman and sophomore years were basically full with JROTC, and all honors/ AP classes.

This past summer I attended a program called the ylc (youth leadership conference) inside the USS Yorktown for three days. During my days aboard the amazing ship, our group had visitors ranging from a Vietnam pow for 7 1/2 years, a Medal of Honor recipient, several lieutenant colonels, and some people with guides on starting a business. The program picks from every single school, and only takes one student to come aboard for three days. It was a blast btw.

I was in varsity cross country my sophomore year, and in jv track.

I have about 24 hours of community service an I intend to get much more with the coming years.

I have around a 3.8 Gpa which I believe is weighted.

This coming year I'll be taking more so and honors classes and hopefully get invited to national honor society.

My sat scores are very lacking with around a 600 in reading and a 400 in math. Don't worry I plan to get some math help this year as take it again :p and also do better on critical reading and the other sections.
At the moment I'm trying to go dual enrollment but I'm running into some speed bumps so if all else fails I'll just do more Ap classes and honors classes.

Speaking of AP classes I passed both of my exams with a 3. Biology and world history to be precise. And I know a 3 isn't much, but hopefully it'll give me some leeway over honors classes.

I have not yet taken the act and asvab but I plan to do so this year.

In my last two years I'll still play cross country but I might switch over to soccer for my secondary sport.

actually one quick question

Would it be better to take a foreign language over JROTC since I already have three years in the program?


Well that pretty much sums me up, please do evaluate all of this info and give me some honest feedback. I don't need any sugar coating thx
 
Of course you know that those SAT scores MUST come up. They will, naturally, as you learn more, but as you have probably read, your goal is 800 in both CR and M.

Now is the time to get some leadership experience.

You don't mention which state you call home and that could make a difference in the future.

You are a rising JUNIOR and have NO foreign language???????????????? Forget JROTC and take language. You might want to take a semester's worth next summer too. That is one very glaring deficiency I see.
 
Last edited:
Of course you know that those SAT score MUST come up. They will, naturally, as you learn more, but as you have probably read, your goal is 800 in both CR and M.

Now is the time to get some leadership experience.

You don't mention which state you call home and that could make a difference in the future.

You are a rising JUNIOR and have NO foreign language???????????????? Forget JROTC and take language. You might want to take a semester's worth next summer too. That is one very glaring deficiency I see.
How many years of a foreign language is good to take? I've taken three years already. Is that sufficient enough?
 
The reason fencermother mentioned where you're from, is because in order to receive an appointment, you must receive a nomination first. All appointees have a nomination, but not all applicants with a nomination will receive an appointment. Some districts and some states are easier to get a nomination than others. Less competition.

Also, approximately 50% of all appointments given, must be equally represented by each state and district. This is federal law. The academy has no say so. Generally, each senator and representative from each state gives a slate of 10 nominees to the academy. The academy must take 1 person from each of those slates. Assuming at least one nominee is qualified. You want to get on as many slates as possible. E.g your district representatives slate, both senators slate. If you're a military brat, you want to get on the presidential slate too. It's like a lottery ticket. The more slates you're on, the more chances you have. If you don't get an appointment from being the 1 chosen from each slate, then you get one more chance. All those not selected for an appointment go into one big pool. The academy then chooses from that pool the remaining individuals to give appointments to to complete the class siE they want.

That's why it's significant where you're from. Whatever state your parents claim as state of residency, it by default your state of residency. And that's the state you will need to apply for a mod nomination from. If Texas happens to be their state of residency, then that's a very competitive state for nominations. That have a lot more people there wanting to attend the Air Force academy, vs a state like South Dakota or wyoming.
 
I'm assuming a presidential slot is near impossible. I already knew about nominations btw but I'm still confused on getting several state senator nominations. Just before it sounded like you said I could only get one from one district in my state. Please explain.

Also Spanish or French for foreign language?
 
First, a presidential is AUTOMATIC. If your parent(s) are retired active duty, or have more than 8 years of active service and are still in, then a presidential nomination is automatic. And for some reserve military with enough points, you can also get a presidential.

Remember how I said a senator or representative gives a slate of 10 nominations and the academy picks 1 from that slate? Similar for presidential. Doesn't matter if there's 200, 400, or 1000. All get the presidential nomination, but the academy only gives up to 100 appointments from that slate.

As for your other question. All states have 2 u.s. Senators. All applicants from that state can apply to both of them. There also districts in each state. Each district has a u.s. House representative. Whatever district you live in, you can apply for a nomination from that representative. So, as a minimum, everyone can apply for at least 3 nominations. Doesn't mean you'll get it. They could have 100 applicants applying for a nomination from each senator or representative. They can only give 10 nominations. If you're a military brat, you can also get the presidential nomination. That's automatic, but again, whether you're one of the 100 appointees from that slate is another story.

As for applying for these senator and representative nominations, just go to your senators and representative's website. They all have instructions.
 
Cwolfpack, You would be eligible to apply for 3 nominations from a member of congress: 2 from your U.S. Senators and 1 from your U.S. Representative. Each state has 2 Senators and each district (in every state) has 1 representative. When it is time for you to seek a nomination you will fill out applications for each of these members of congress. That time is usually at the end of your Junior year of high school. You usually request these applications by contacting your members of congress by access to their website/email or by a phone call. Until that time, you can find out if they will be holding any Service Academy information meetings. These are generally very informative and they give you a chance to meet some of the senators' and representatives' staff who work with them on nominations. Sometimes cadets, graduates, parents or officers will speak.

As far as foreign language goes, our son had Spanish. Bottom line: just pick one you would like. If you get an appointment to USAFA, a strategic language will be assigned to you as a C4C. Probably won't be either Spanish or French, but you will have the experience of taking language classes in high school, which is a plus.
 
First, a presidential is AUTOMATIC. If your parent(s) are retired active duty, or have more than 8 years of active service and are still in, then a presidential nomination is automatic. And for some reserve military with enough points, you can also get a presidential.

Remember how I said a senator or representative gives a slate of 10 nominations and the academy picks 1 from that slate? Similar for presidential. Doesn't matter if there's 200, 400, or 1000. All get the presidential nomination, but the academy only gives up to 100 appointments from that slate.

As for your other question. All states have 2 u.s. Senators. All applicants from that state can apply to both of them. There also districts in each state. Each district has a u.s. House representative. Whatever district you live in, you can apply for a nomination from that representative. So, as a minimum, everyone can apply for at least 3 nominations. Doesn't mean you'll get it. They could have 100 applicants applying for a nomination from each senator or representative. They can only give 10 nominations. If you're a military brat, you can also get the presidential nomination. That's automatic, but again, whether you're one of the 100 appointees from that slate is another story.

As for applying for these senator and representative nominations, just go to your senators and representative's website. They all have instructions.
Sorry CC: I had to have been typing at the same time as you. Didn't see your post until mine was already up.
 
Last edited:
@Cwolfpack137 you mentioned that you are in JROTC. If your unit is a distinguished unit, then your unit commander can also nominate you as well. Each distinguished unit commander can nominate up to 5 per SA except USCGA and USMMA. Hope this helps.
 
Yeah I'm part of a distinguished unit. (The ones with the gold star) my SAI already told me something about getting a letter of recommendation ready. I hope that makes at least somewhat of a difference. My unit is army btw
 
I cannot recommend more strongly that you immediately pursue the foreign language of your choice. Another poster on this forum has some trouble with this, so you are not alone, but this is one area where there is little wiggle room.

Question: why did you neglect a foreign language (assuming you go to a high school)? It is extremely unusual for a college bound student to neglect this aspect of a high school education. Moreover, note that you are not applying to the local branch of State U; you are applying to a United States Service Academy, and especially being from Texas, you will be in direct competition with America's best and brightest, the greatest majority of whom did not neglect this subject matter.
 
Well I'll jump on getting a foreign language this year. Thanks for the advice, I guess JROTC can't beat language when you have already taken four semesters of it. As for nominations, like I said I'm a military brat. I was born and raised in Texas for most of my life, but the past couple of years we have moved. Now we live in Georgia. So I'm assuming I'll have to ask my parents about state residence correct?
 
Well I'll jump on getting a foreign language this year. Thanks for the advice, I guess JROTC can't beat language when you have already taken four semesters of it. As for nominations, like I said I'm a military brat. I was born and raised in Texas for most of my life, but the past couple of years we have moved. Now we live in Georgia. So I'm assuming I'll have to ask my parents about state residence correct?

You are correct that you should take a foreign language starting this year, and next year and as fencersmother said, during the summer. Do all you can to show you are motivated to take a foreign language and get excellent grades in it. Fencer also gave you some great advice: getting leadership experience. Don't neglect this area. Maybe try for captain of cross country or an officer in a school club/class/activity.
For residency, you should confirm that with your parents at the time you are seeking your nominations. Sounds like for now its Georgia. Since no one knows your's/your parents' situation you should be discussing all of this with them if you haven't already!
 
Alrighty then, I'll get right on it. Thanks for all of the advice. It helps out a lot and I'm very grateful.
 
Back
Top