Chances for Appointment?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Air Force Academy - Colorado Springs
1

<p>I’m a rising junior and have recently become very interested in the United States Air Force Academy. I posted my stats below and am hoping to improve my GPA during my junior year. I have a few questions and was hoping you guys could help:)</p>

<p>White female
3.65 Unweighted, no rank but probably top 20% at least
PSAT (Sophomore Year, no prep): 189
Hoping to prep for junior year PSAT > 210</p>

<p>Classes
9th Grade (at Junior High)
Highly Capable English (B+/A-)
Highly Capable History (A-/A-)
Highly Capable Integrated Math 2 (B-/B)
Introduction to Physical Sciences (A/A)
Symphonic Band (A/A)
Spanish I (A/A)</p>

<p>Summer
Integrated Math III</p>

<p>10th Grade
English 10 (A-)
AP European History (B)
Pre-Calculus (B+)
Biology (A-)
Sports Medicine (A)
Spanish II (A)</p>

<p>Summer
NASA SHARP:)</p>

<p>11th Grade
High School
Spanish X103 (College class will earn 5 UW Credits)</p>

<p>11th Grade
Dual Enrollment Program
Calculus I (Fall)
English 101 (Fall)
Chemistry 120 (Fall)
Calculus II (Winter)
US History to 1865 (Winter)
English 102 (Winter)
Calculus III (Spring)
Intro. to Web Authoring (Spring)
US History from 1865 (Spring)</p>

<p>12th Grade
Community College
Differential Equations (Fall)
English 201 (Fall)
Astronomy 101 (Fall)
Spanish 201 (Winter)
English 251 (Winter)
Chemistry 142 (Winter)
Nutrition 110 (Spring)
Statistics (Spring)
Physics 101 (Spring)</p>

<p>Extra Curriculars
Taekwondo (10 Years)
-Captain of Washington State Junior Elite Taekwondo Team
-Captain of Washington State National Taekwondo Team
-Won local, regional, national, and international taekwondo tournaments
-Selected to represent Washington State at Olympic Training center for national camp
-Washington State Best Female Taekwondo Athlete</p>

<p>National Honor Society
-7 Years</p>

<p>Humanitarian Award
-3 Times</p>

<p>Volunteering at Hospital
-Just started volunteering, but volunteer about 5-10 weeks
-I expect to have at least 250 hours of volunteering when I apply</p>

<p>Questions

  1. Are my chances competitive enough for appointment?
  2. I’ve heard the admissions process for the Academy is very lengthy, is it too late to start getting ready now?
  3. Would the Academy be an okay place to go if I am still deciding between a degree in Astronautical engineering and biomedical engineering?
  4. Any suggestions on how to convince my parents into letting me apply to the Academy?</p>

<p>P.S.: Sorry about the very long post!</p>

2

<p>Your PSAT is 189? That seems very low (no offense). Are you sure that's right? Maybe you meant to say 1890? You seem to be taking some excellent classes though. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Maybe, but you probably want to get your SAT about 1000 points higher if it really is 189. </p></li>
<li><p>The process IS lengthy, but you're right on time to start now. Find out who your congressperson/senators are. </p></li>
<li><p>I guess so. </p></li>
<li><p>Tell them it won't hurt to apply! It doesn't cost anything.</p></li>
</ol>

3

<p>Yep, I meant my PSAT score was 1890. I'm hoping to improve it by prepping before though. Thanks for your input:)</p>

4

<p>I believe he is correct on his PSAT score. A 63 on each of the 3 parts gives one a 189.</p>

<p>I do have one question though, how do you get to be a member of the NHS for 7 years as a sophomore?</p>

5

<p>Hey zpm,</p>

<p>I was just wondering what part of Washington you are from. You don't have to be very specific or anything, I was just wondering. I live up in northwest Washington, around close to Bellingham. I'll be part of the class of 2009, so if you have any questions feel free to ask.</p>

<p>Ryan</p>

6

<p>NJHS-eligible as a sixth, seventh or eighth grader(ninth if part of junior high)
NHS-eligible second semester sophomore,junior and senior in HS</p>

<p>shogun-
I think she is projecting her classes, membership, activities from 6th-12th grade</p>

7

<p>No Varsity Letter or other high school athletic competition. The TaeKwonDo helps, but once again it's hard to quantify in relation to Varsity letters in high school sports. Your PAE scores will be crucial when you apply. Really nothing you do before 9th grade is considered. You'll fill out a bubble sheet with activities and, as I recall there are no bubbles for even 9th grade since some high schools are only 3 year and they want to level the playing field.</p>

8

<p>Your rank, if it is top 20 %, definitely needs to be much higher. I heard they like at the very least top 10%, top 5% much better. And yes, DocFrance is correct (as usual). They do not care about your NJHS experience. All they want is your activities from Sophmore year on...Good luck, you have time to improve and there will always be a chance. Keep up your martial arts and try to volunteer more time to community services. My interview was all about what I have contributed to the community.</p>

9

<p>zpm-a bit of advice:</p>

<p>"I drink but I always am very responsible about it. I think that responsibility is the key. I only drink if I'm with friends that I trust, who will stop me before I get wasted and I usually only drink in moderation." </p>

<h1>1-underage drinking is illegal, so there is nothing responsible about it</h1>

<p>"I'm ADD"</p>

<h1>2-if I'm not mistaken, ADD is a disqualifier</h1>

<p>"I quit taekwondo"</p>

<h1>3- it would probably be a good idea to pursue another sport and earn a varsity letter</h1>

<p>"I was thinking of graduating two years early"</p>

<h1>4- sparing a lengthy explanation, my personal opinion is to not graduate early and use the time to add to your accomplishments to strengthen your application. Nothing wrong with graduating with your peers.</h1>

10

<p>Did I miss an edit or something? where did you get those quotes sgumby? (OK, it's from prior postings on other threads)</p>

<p>If true, then I'd say your chances of admission just dropped--significantly.</p>

11

<p>Uh, if the drinking/ADD/quit Taekwondo parts are true, then you might not be in too good of shape to get it.</p>

12

<p>Those are all past problems that I have resolved. </p>

<p>I quit taekwondo January 22, but have just started again after a 3 month break because I missed the sport and the kids that look up to me. </p>

<p>The ADD was never officially diagnosed and only became a problem when I stopped doing taekwondo. I now believe that it might not have been ADD but more of an excess of energy because I stopped doing taekwondo. </p>

<p>I played soccer for 10 years but quit to focus more on taekwondo, would that help show that I participate in other sports too?</p>

<p>The drinking was a mistake that I made at a party after the end of the year dance. I do not intend to drink alcohol again until I am at least 18.</p>

<p>As for the honor society thing, I calculated the years that I intend to be in honor society (2007-2000). However, I realize now that I should list it by academic years and not calendar years so it will hopefully be six years by the time I graduate.</p>

<p>P.S. Ryan, I am from Western Washington also but closer to Seattle. Bellingham is a beautiful place though, my sister is up there at WWU.</p>

13

<p>C'mon Z. If you plan to drink after you turn 18, HELLO? let me point out an obvious factor. IF you get caught under-age drinking, it WILL show up on a police record and the academy WILL know about it. My advice is to stay clean till your of age. This coming from someone who just drank a martini so I am no prude. If you want the Academy life and what it can offer you, stay on the right side of the tracks. They aren't looking for a party crowd. If you think you're gonna miss that stage of your life, cause you will at an academy, just go on to regular college where you can make your own choices as to how you want to live. I don't mean to sound like an old man but just be wise to what you will be risking if you <em>really</em> want to apply. Heads up!</p>

14

<p>zpmqxon</p>

<p>my class rank was 25% but I got in.... at the same time I'm in a blue ribbon top 50 HS in the country so I'm sure that has some weight to it.... </p>

<p>The SATs are probably the most important thing, 700 on each section would be clutch, epsically b/c at the summer seminar they explained that they count the Math section double, as in they look heavily on the math score, so study ur butt of on math </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Are my chances competitive enough for appointment?
A) get that SAT score up and probably....but you still need a more generic, standard athletic/leadership position, as in a varsity sport, captain or class officer etc, </p></li>
<li><p>I've heard the admissions process for the Academy is very lengthy, is it too late to start getting ready now?
It's a pain in the Ace, thank the lord it's all over.... it's probably too late for the summer seminar, but it's not to early to request information and fill out stuff for the academies, The academy works on a rolling bases so get ur stuff in early </p></li>
<li><p>Would the Academy be an okay place to go if I am still deciding between a degree in Astronautical engineering and biomedical engineering?
A) OK???? just ok???? the best out there... especially any aerospace or aeronautical engineering... What other school launches satalites into orbit every 4 years??? and has access to the kaliber technology taht that AFA does? from what I hear it's the toughest major at the academy though</p></li>
<li><p>Any suggestions on how to convince my parents into letting me apply to the Academy?
A) sit down with your parents, that's what I did. My dad didnt' care, but my mom was of course worried. be genuine, tell them why you want to be in the military, that it's more than about the school, but b/c it's a chance for you to do something great with your life etc etc... be sincere, they'll come around </p></li>
</ol>

<p>on a side note I compete TKD too, I usually compete in korea though.... I did go to the Big east tournament though.... but you being from washington I'm sure I haven't bumped into ya..... I'm going to join the martial arts team at the academy, hey maybe I'll see ya then!</p>

15

<p>The Academy doesn't have rolling admissions, everything is due by one date per year. Here's a timeline. <a href="http://academyadmissions.com/admissions/howtoapply/timeline/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://academyadmissions.com/admissions/howtoapply/timeline/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

16

<p>LOA are given on a rolling bases, with the admissions committee meeting every other tuesday I think</p>

<p>it's not rolling per-say, due to the nomination process but that's the closest comparison, b/c they do not wait for all the application to come in to decide on a person, E.g. some colleges wait to make their decisions, usually the popular dates are 3/1, 3/15, 4/1, but with the academies, you have some people getting LOA, in september, and some people getting their appointments as late as late may and early june.</p>

17

<p>tbby2, I'm just coming back to taekwondo after a 3 month break. I've been doing it over 10 years, and I decided I needed a little time to try other things before it was too late. I'm hoping to come back and compete though. I used to compete a ton and travel at least 1-2 times a month all over the country for tournaments. My proudest accomplisment was winning at US Open:) How did the Big East Tournament go? I can't wait to start competing again!</p>

18

<p>The Big East tourny was my 1st tourny in the US.. </p>

<p>I competed in the internation TKD jambory in seoul, and the Busan invitation in s.korea... </p>

<p>I'll definitly join the AFA team.... good luck with the application process I'll make sure to drop you for some push ups if I see you next year haha</p>

19

<p>Concerning the drinking issue... If you plan on drinking here before you turn 21, don't. Just don't. You'll receive an Article 15 the first time and kicked out the second time. As for the person who suppies it to you, assuming he/she is a cadet, he/she gets kicked out. Seriously, don't asume you can get away with breaking rules here. If you want to drink and do the million and one other typical college things, go to a state college. On the other hand, if you want the multitude of opportunities you would never get at State U and don't mind following rules, by all means, come here.</p>

20

<p>Yeah, I've been thinking about it a lot and I would much rather just follow the rules. I don't think it would be worth it to risk all that I have worked hard for. </p>

<p>I also had a question about transferring credits to the Academy. The dual enrollment program allows me to earn high school and college credit at the same time for free. Thus, if I were to go to the local state university I would enter as a Junior instead of a Freshman. I'm assuming this would not be the case with the Academy, but does anybody know for sure?</p>