<p>I am a potential candidate and I would like to know what the academy life is like from a females perspective. What is your motivation for being there? I must admit, i’m not the hard-core, sleep with my eyes open type. I just really want to know what’s really out there for us females.</p>
<p>I'm speaking from a guy's perspective, but if you can hold your own, then you are fine. The girls in my squad are a pretty tough bunch, not anything over the top, but they get what needs done. Sure females aren't NATURALLY as strong in the upperbody, but if you put your best in, you will be fine. Plus, in other areas females excel, like abdominals (flutter kicks!). Basically, from my perspective, you will be treated as a cadet, with respect and the same expectations, that should be the least of your worries if you come here.</p>
<p>I hold the same opinion. If you give it your all, you will be respected--Just like everyone else. Speaking of excelling in different areas...I saw one female cadet do 1250 perfect sit-ups...WOW!!</p>
<p>And for anyone worrying about past scandals...USAFA is probably one of the safest colleges around.</p>
<p>As a freshman female, you really don't have to be too hard core while you are here. Just try to stay out of trouble, and get your stuff done. The guys in my squadron seem like 30 older brothers to me, I help them with what I excel in, and they are always more than willing to help me a little. My biggest piece of advice is don't use the fact that you are a girl to get out of anything, we had a couple of girls pull that during basic, and most peoples respect drops for them. You are here for the same reason everyone else is, and you deserve to be here just as much as they do as well. Good luck!</p>
<p>As a female graduate, I will say that gender really wasn't an issue. On the fitness tests, there are different standards to take into consideration physiological differences, however, don't expect to be treated differently in training sessions with your squadronmates. You have to give up some stuff that you may be used to, such as makeup, but if this is too big of an issue, I wouldn't recommend the military to you. Especially my first year there, the 20 of us in my squad were all cadets and there was no real differentiation between the males and females. I disagreed when they chose to cluster the female rooms near the bathrooms (in my second year), as it somewhat segregated us from the rest of the squad, but even that was not a major hurdle (or was as big as you made it out to be). As far as motivation for being there, I don't think there should be a difference between males and females. After all, everyone's there for the same purpose, right?</p>