USAFA Waiting Page C/O 2028

Arrowhead2024 said:
Today, my son reluctantly accepted an early admission full scholarship to Stanford University and withdrew his application to the USAFA, which he was conflicted about as the deadline approached. Being from California, we are disappointed by what we perceive as the academy's diminished attention to detail in admissions, overshadowing the achievements of overqualified candidates. Despite his accomplishment in earning a piloting license and aspirations to fly, we feel a sense of emptiness with this decision but had to use his PLAN B, as we can no longer prolong accepting a full scholarship. Thank you to you all who replied to our questions. Best of luck to all your children waiting for their acceptance and not yet forced to make difficult decisions.
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Tough decision indeed. Congratulations to your son for such stellar accomplishments! I think there are a lot of candidates with Plan B full scholarships already in place but still hoping and waiting for the SA appointment. Hope the SA can make appointments soon on competitive states/districts so they will not lose highly competitive candidates to civilian schools.
 
Arrowhead2024 said:
Today, my son reluctantly accepted an early admission full scholarship to Stanford University and withdrew his application to the USAFA, which he was conflicted about as the deadline approached. Being from California, we are disappointed by what we perceive as the academy's diminished attention to detail in admissions, overshadowing the achievements of overqualified candidates. Despite his accomplishment in earning a piloting license and aspirations to fly, we feel a sense of emptiness with this decision but had to use his PLAN B, as we can no longer prolong accepting a full scholarship. Thank you to you all who replied to our questions. Best of luck to all your children waiting for their acceptance and not yet forced to make difficult decisions.
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What led you to that conclusion?
 
Arrowhead2024 said:
Today, my son reluctantly accepted an early admission full scholarship to Stanford University and withdrew his application to the USAFA, which he was conflicted about as the deadline approached. Being from California, we are disappointed by what we perceive as the academy's diminished attention to detail in admissions, overshadowing the achievements of overqualified candidates. Despite his accomplishment in earning a piloting license and aspirations to fly, we feel a sense of emptiness with this decision but had to use his PLAN B, as we can no longer prolong accepting a full scholarship. Thank you to you all who replied to our questions. Best of luck to all your children waiting for their acceptance and not yet forced to make difficult decisions.
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I thought California has not released Senatorial nominations yet , isn't it ? Which senator's nomination your son has ?
 
Arrowhead2024 said:
Today, my son reluctantly accepted an early admission full scholarship to Stanford University and withdrew his application to the USAFA, which he was conflicted about as the deadline approached. Being from California, we are disappointed by what we perceive as the academy's diminished attention to detail in admissions, overshadowing the achievements of overqualified candidates. Despite his accomplishment in earning a piloting license and aspirations to fly, we feel a sense of emptiness with this decision but had to use his PLAN B, as we can no longer prolong accepting a full scholarship. Thank you to you all who replied to our questions. Best of luck to all your children waiting for their acceptance and not yet forced to make difficult decisions.
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Can you tell us more about this situation? What deadline was today? The restrictive early action reply date at Stanford is May 1 for students that were accepted.
 
Arrowhead2024 said:
Hello, fellow parents. I'm seeking insight into the college admissions process. Despite my son's strong profile — valedictorian with a 4.36 GPA, all-state runner, student council president, National Honors Society member, impressive ACT scores, and a near-perfect CFA and application, plus Congressional and Senatorial nominations — he has not yet received an acceptance or Letter of Assurance (LOA) or FULL acceptance. Could anyone with experience or knowledge in this area offer clarity or advice on why this might be the case, even with such a robust application? Your positive, blunt, or straightforward input is greatly appreciated.
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Here's a question. Is your son planning to participate in ROTC while at Stanford? Did he apply to any other SA's? You didn't mention being frustrated from not hearing from any of the other ones. Maybe it's a question of dedication to becoming a military officer? This makes a difference. Just a thought. The SA's don't promise to appoint anyone by any special date.
 
Arrowhead2024 said:
Today, my son reluctantly accepted an early admission full scholarship to Stanford University and withdrew his application to the USAFA, which he was conflicted about as the deadline approached. Being from California, we are disappointed by what we perceive as the academy's diminished attention to detail in admissions, overshadowing the achievements of overqualified candidates. Despite his accomplishment in earning a piloting license and aspirations to fly, we feel a sense of emptiness with this decision but had to use his PLAN B, as we can no longer prolong accepting a full scholarship. Thank you to you all who replied to our questions. Best of luck to all your children waiting for their acceptance and not yet forced to make difficult decisions.
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Congratulations to your son. Stanford is a great school and I'm sure he has a bright future! If his goal is to serve, Stanford has an Air Force ROTC program that he could look into joining at San Jose State, or Officer Training School after he graduates.

I will say though that I'm not sure that you can say the academy is overshadowing overqualified candidates. Your son's stats seem excellent, but if we could look at the stats of all applicants, I think you'd find that there are many applicants with comparable stats to him. Most of them also haven't heard from the academy but will in the future when the bulk of the appointments are sent out. The majority of those that are appointed will never get a LOA either.
 
Arrowhead2024 said:
Today, my son reluctantly accepted an early admission full scholarship to Stanford University and withdrew his application to the USAFA, which he was conflicted about as the deadline approached. Being from California, we are disappointed by what we perceive as the academy's diminished attention to detail in admissions, overshadowing the achievements of overqualified candidates. Despite his accomplishment in earning a piloting license and aspirations to fly, we feel a sense of emptiness with this decision but had to use his PLAN B, as we can no longer prolong accepting a full scholarship. Thank you to you all who replied to our questions. Best of luck to all your children waiting for their acceptance and not yet forced to make difficult decisions.
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I wish your son well in his future at Stanford. However, if it is really his dream to become an Air Force officer and fly, then by withdrawing his application to USAFA he has closed the most direct path. I truly believe that was a mistake, and I think your son had a good chance for an appointment.

If you care to reply, I am curious what you perceive as the Academy’s diminished attention to detail in the process. We are at the stage in their application timeline where nominations are just now due and most appointments are still a month or two away.
 
Oakley said:
You should add him to the list of Appointments - on another thread on here. Congratulations. We are from Texas as well and still waiting and hoping.
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I did add my DS to the list. Got skipped over.

Hang in there. The waiting was horrible!
 
Arrowhead2024 said:
Today, my son reluctantly accepted an early admission full scholarship to Stanford University and withdrew his application to the USAFA, which he was conflicted about as the deadline approached. Being from California, we are disappointed by what we perceive as the academy's diminished attention to detail in admissions, overshadowing the achievements of overqualified candidates. Despite his accomplishment in earning a piloting license and aspirations to fly, we feel a sense of emptiness with this decision but had to use his PLAN B, as we can no longer prolong accepting a full scholarship. Thank you to you all who replied to our questions. Best of luck to all your children waiting for their acceptance and not yet forced to make difficult decisions.
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We are in the Bay Area with similar criteria and Letters of Assurance (LOA) from both USAFA and USMA. Our DS finally got his nomination yesterday and we are hoping for appointments for both soon. Our experiences, despite being in California as well, seem to be very different. From the ALO's, Interviewer, the invite to FVE, and easy communication from Team Silver, we feel they have been incredibly transparent and supportive despite our questions and anxiousness. In fact, the professionalism of both academies and the experience thus far are the main reason my son is holding off on accepting early admission to MIT as a recruited athlete.

MIT was his dream school until he went on the FVE and the academies soon jumped to top spots. He quickly realized that most of the applicants to USAFA and USMA had very similar if not better qualifications (on paper) as my son. It was a humbling experience for him, but it also confirmed that the best students in the country are also applying to the academies. We have no family or friends that have gone to a military academy, so this is all new, but it has been a great lesson in humility and patience. I wish your son well.
 
Stealth_81 said:
I wish your son well in his future at Stanford. However, if it is really his dream to become an Air Force officer and fly, then by withdrawing his application to USAFA he has closed the most direct path. I truly believe that was a mistake, and I think your son had a good chance for an appointment.

If you care to reply, I am curious what you perceive as the Academy’s diminished attention to detail in the process. We are at the stage in their application timeline where nominations are just now due and most appointments are still a month or two away.
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I’m also curious to know what led to the PP’s perception.

My ds and I just attended the Admissions Social that was held in San Antonio on Wed night for current 2028 candidates. Col. Pipes, Ms. Coyne (her deputy), and several admissions staff members were there. Col. Pipes took time to describe the admissions process and answer questions. We were able to talk with her, Ms. Coyne, and our regional admissions Lt. personally. Col. Pipes described how admissions looks in-depth at each candidate which is why it takes so long to offer appointments. She did point out that they work on a similar timeline as highly competitive private universities minus the ED/REA piece. The LOIs this year were to help with that and also to compete with USMA and USNA’s early LOAs.

I was pretty impressed with her and was assured that the admissions process is thorough. They really dig deep into each candidate. The timelines she shared are on par with what others have mentioned upthread. The admissions panel will convene at the end of Feb and go into March where more than 50% of appointments will be given out. She said about 40% have been offered at the moment with 60% still to go so most of those will be decided in the upcoming 4-6 weeks. I can’t remember the exact number but I think she said that the class of 2028 will be about 1100 plus or minus 9 (seemed very exact). The event definitely made waiting a little more bearable. And, yes, they do understand how hard it is for the candidates to wait (Col. Pipes has been there)!
 
ddva1 said:
My DS got a call from his representative today that he has received an appointment so hopefully the VA appointments are starting. Nothing has changed yet in his portal but he doesn't expect that until early next week.
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WOW congratulations!! If you don't mind, I'd like to ask what district in VA.
 
ddva1 said:
My DS got a call from his representative today that he has received an appointment so hopefully the VA appointments are starting. Nothing has changed yet in his portal but he doesn't expect that until early next week.
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The vast majority of appointments to USAFA will not go out until March, April, and sometimes into May. --- or are you talking about nominations?

I expect around 1100-1200 accepted appointments (give or take based on various circumstances). If you look at the self-report list, you can see that there are only a fraction who have received appointments.

Early appointments are usually recruited athletes (mostly because other universities require an answer much earlier than March), or a candidate meets some "need of the Air Force", or maybe a Presidential nom. Ultimately, we do not know what goes on in the minds of admissions.
 
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