<p>Hi…I’m new here and I have a couple of questions. I am just wondering what I should expect at my interviwe with my ALO…</p>
<p>-Should I have an application ready with all my achievements?
-Should I have a list of questions to ask him?
-Will I be required to perform physical tasks and/or a medical exam? (i.e. - push ups, flexibility, drug test, turn and cough)
-What is this interview trying to accomplish?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<ol>
<li>No, but a resume summarizing your achievements would be helpful and indicate your level of preparedness.</li>
<li>Yes</li>
<li>You're joking, right? No.</li>
<li>They are probing to determine your level of commitment, to both the academy and the service. Whether you'll be a cadet and an officer that they'll be proud of. How you handle adversity. Whether you understand how difficult the next 4 years will be. In that regard, you should:</li>
</ol>
<p>-read everything you can get your hands on about the USAFA and the Air Force. Knowledge indicates a seriousness of purpose.<br>
-make sure your appearance is squared away - shoes shined, appearance neat (a jacket and tie would be a good idea).
-be able to discuss situations where you've taken the initiative, displayed leadership, or handled adversity.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>For several people I've talked to, parents were asked to join in at the beginning or end of the interview. This leads me to suspect that one goal of the interview is to determine if parents are either being supportive or forcing the service academy option.</p>
<p>My son's ALO asked me to join in at the end of the interview and asked if I supported the decision, if I had ever been in the military and was I ever denied admission to the Academy. I also took that time to ask some of my own questions about AFA. You're spot on about the goal being to see if parents are supportive or forcing the choice.</p>
<p>While I think it's important to know if the parents support their kid's application to USAFA--and to what degree they may be pushing them--I've got mixed feelings about an ALO asking a parent about their military experience (or lack thereof), especially if they'd themselves gone to or been turned down by an Academy. I don't want to see USAFA become a purely "company school" dominated by "legacies" whose parents and grandparents went there, too. Currently, the best info I have is that about 20% of each entering class comes from a military family.</p>
<p>My wife and I did not participate in our sons' service academy interviews--beyond an exchange of pleasantries when the ALO came to our house to conduct the interview.</p>
<p>Docfrance - the questioning led me to believe he wanted to see if I had ever pursued attending the Academy and didn't make it. Trying to verify if I was putting pressure on my son to attain something I hadn't. No legacy here - it just wasn't on my radar in the mid-70's....</p>
<p>I understand, but I still think it goes beyond appropriate questioning...</p>