<p>Hi, I am new on here, so if this is the wrong forum please let me know. My ds-16.5 and a junior at a tiny Christian school has been interested in the AFA since he was 10 yo. He currently has a 3.8 out of 4.0 gpa (nonweighted), he just took his ACT-27 and plans to study more and take again (his writing took him down), he is taking the SAT May 1st, with plans to study and take again regardless of score. He is currently in the CAP and was just awarded the Billy Mitchell Award and was accepted into the AFA Summer Seminar (doubtful that it helps any, but he’s excited nonetheless). He was homeschooled through 9th grade and the school is small so he doesn’t have the options other schools have. His big extracurricular is civil air patrol and taekwando (a 1st deg. black belt). He just discovered that he can play basketball–he’s a late bloomer (130 lbs and 6’) so he plans to play his sr year. he is on our church drama team and technical team, helps run our family orchard and started our farmer’s market stand at age 9, attended a Strategic Intelligence Leadership Camp in '09, is going to Haiti for a mission/workcamp in August, rock climbs, plays chess. </p>
<p>Anyway, neither my husband nor I have navigated the college waters aside from some comm. college experience. His interest is in military or strategic intelligence/history/political science/economics–mostly intelligence. He has 1 backup school–Patrick Henry College which has a major in strategic intelligence, but no other colleges picked out yet. Our big concern is does he go ahead and also apply for the AFROTC stuff at an applicable college (Patrick Henry does not have AFROTC–it’s a private Christian college)?
Does everyone who is trying to get into AFA also apply to “several” other schools and for scholarships, assuming you won’t get an appointment and then if you do, then you just turn down the acceptances and scholarships? Any advice about what to read or look up or do is appreciated. Also, someone mentioned having him attend our local comm. college and taking history and political science, and for. lang. courses there, continuing CAP and leadership activities through CAP and reapplying for AFA if he doesn’t get in right out of hs…whew!!!
We are overwhelmed. :)</p>
<p>he should be applying to schools that also have afrotc, so if the afa doesnt work out, he will be able to slide into rotc…if he gets into afa, it will be nice for him to turn down options if he has to…also, he should be the one doing the legwork on this, especially when it comes to dealing with his ALO…it sends the wrong impression if he has mommy and daddy doing all his homework for him…</p>
<p>I did EXTENSIVE college searching on my own, because I really didn’t know what I wanted. That is how I found USAFA, actually. Anyway, this first site is one with a ton of information. I mostly used it to look up a college I found with another search, but you can search by major as well</p>
<p>Just be sure that your son is the one that does all the actual work. You can help him find schools to look at, but he needs to make the final decisions and do the real research</p>
<p>If this helps, I graduated from a class of 56 students from a private Christain school. The good thing about small schools is its easy to Varsity Letter and hold high positions in clubs. Helped me out, and here I am at USAFA…</p>
<p>that is very true…while i did not apply to any academies, in my 4 years at my small christian hs, there was usually at least 1 or 2 guys who went to a SA…its nice because like tim said, its possible to get multiple varsity letters, hold high club positions, etc</p>