Candidate Fitness Assessment Advice for USAFA Please!

Applying to College
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<p>I am really hoping to be part of the 2014 class at the United States Air Force Academy. I have already been notified that I am medically qualified, I am an Eagle Scout, I have a 4.32 weighted gpa and a 4.0 unweighted, I am ranked 3rd in my class of 400, and I am the captain of my high school rowing team (I am the first varsity coxswain) and we placed 4th at the state championships (out of 40 schools) last year and I have a 2270 SAT. (800 math, 750 writing, 720 reading). But here is my problem:</p>

<p>I really want to get everything done early for the Academy application including the candidate fitness assessment and I had some trouble with that the most recent time I took it. Here are my scores: (remember that I am a coxswain and therefore small and lightweight so don't be too harsh, I just want honesty)</p>

<p>Location: Air Force Academy Summer Seminar (these scores can't be used because they are "unofficial")
Conditions: Indoors, 70 degrees, 10% humidity, 7000ft altitude
Date: June 17th</p>

<p>Bball Throw: 54 feet
Pullups: 18
Shuttle: 9.9seconds
Situps: 83
Pushups: 56
1800m run: 7:37 (which is a 6:46 mile at that pace)
(their track is 300m so they made us do 1800) </p>

<p>This is how I did today on my "official" test:</p>

<p>Location: Washington DC, outdoor track
Conditions: sunny, 94 degrees, 90% humidity, 100ft altitude
Date: Today, July 17th</p>

<p>Bball: 59 feet
Pullups: 18
Shuttle: 8.9 seconds
Situps: 90
Pushups: 57
Mile run: 8:58</p>

<p>^^8:58..godawful I know..heat exhaustion with two huge stomach cramps sucks.</p>

<p>So here is my question: My next chance to take the test would be sometime in September. Is it worth submitting these scores or will the mile time get me rejected? Or should I wait until September and risk the fact that my application will be looked at later than other peoples' applications will be? If I can take the test in better conditions I don't see any reason why my mile time shouldn't be closer to 6:40 and at least below 7 minutes. I don't think I will be able to improve on anything else though..I think I have pretty much peaked on pushups and situps and I can consistently do 25 pullups so I am pretty sure I will max on the pullups again.</p>

<p>Help me out guys! And good luck to anyone else who is in the middle of their academy application! I hope to see you there next June!</p>

<p>TWD</p>

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<p>also, why does it say I can add 25 tags and it only let me add 2? </p>

<p>thanks!</p>

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<p>There’s a message board here purely for the Air Force Academy:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/air-force-academy-colorado-springs/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/air-force-academy-colorado-springs/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Honestly, with your extracurricular and academic credentials, I don’t think you need to be <em>that</em> physically competitive - I’d try to get your mile down to at least 7:30 or so. That being said, your other physical scores could use a little work. I consistently hit over 60 push-ups in my ROTC tests with only a minute - I think you have 2 minutes for the academy one. If I were you, I wouldn’t submit a 9:00 mile. Remember the third core value: Excellence in all we do.</p>

<p>You might also be one of the people that would qualify for a Type I (full tuition) ROTC scholarship. Many schools will give you free room and board if you have an ROTC scholarship of some sort, so if you’re applying to USAFA for cost related reasons, you could get a great education (possibly better academically) elsewhere (and not have all the ridiculous bull crap to put up with) and still commission after you graduate.</p>

<p>If you’re interested in a military career or want to be a pilot (It’s easier to be a pilot from the Academy than another commissioning source), only then would I go to an academy. If you’re using the military as a way to pay for your education, I’d do ROTC so that you could focus more on academics as an undergrad (you’ll have more research opportunities and whatnot - I believe the academies demand more of your time over the summer compared to ROTC).</p>

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<p>Thanks Dshinka! I want to be a pilot so I definitely want to go to the Air Force Academy, cost isn’t an issue. I’m pretty confident I can at least beat 6:50 if I test again in nicer conditions. I think you are just insanely good at pushups! The average number of pushups for males accepted to the academy in 2008 was 60 and I plan on beating at least that. I can do at least 25 pullups so pullups are really my thing but I don’t know why pushups are so difficult for me. Do you have any suggested workouts for getting better at pushups? Normally I do a whole bunch of sets of 25 or 30. Do you think I should do fewer sets of more pushups?</p>

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<p>If money isn’t an issue, may I suggest hiring a personal trainer?</p>

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<p>Hmm…my parents are big on the idea that I can go to any college I want but I don’t know if they’d be willing to pay for a personal trainer. I also do crew year round so I don’t know if I would have time to do that. I’m pretty confident that my cfa will be good enough if I get my mile better than average which is 6:40.</p>

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<p>I think you’ll be fine. When I took the test (MANY years ago) there were people taking the test for the 3rd time (couldn’t meet the min # of pullups). If you don’t meet the minimum requirements I think you’ll be given additional shots. If you submit now you should find out if you need to try again.</p>