<p>My basic question is this: Are there many appointees entering over the age of 18? I’m entering at the max age of 22 after 2 1/2 years at UNC Chapel Hill… I know I’ll be in the minority, but will that be almost unheard of? I met the soccer team, which I’ll be trying out for, and the oldest on the team, a senior, was 23. She was considered ancient. I’m starting to feel like Rudy.</p>
<p>I'll be 20, spent 2 years in college.</p>
<p>PatriotCPM is older as well. I think he'll be 20, not sure though.</p>
<p>Nobody is going to care how old you are.</p>
<p>Once you get here it really doesn't matter. When I was a three degree, I had two four degrees who turned 23 by December of that year. While people entering that old are not extremely common, you'll be surprised how many people here aren't 17 or 18 (and didn't come right out of high school for whatever reason).</p>
<p>How about the other end: us younguns?</p>
<p>I'm 17...eligible only by 2 months...61 days less and I would have had to wait another year.</p>
<p>Wait, you go to UNC?... I live in Chapel Hill! Yeah, anyway, my birthdate is the cutoff for acceptance- July 1st, 1988. Isn't that ironic.</p>
<p>Actually I live in San Diego now. I studied at Carolina for 2 1/2 years then moved out to CA with the family to help my sisters adjust. I planned on applying a year earlier, but I waited until my younger sister graduated. I lovvvved Chapel Hill, but I'd always wanted to go to USAFA. Thanks for the feedback y'all.</p>
<p>I recently graduated from Durham Tech, and I had to make a tough choice between UNC where I'll transfer as a junior or to start from year one at AFA. I chose AFA, and I'm 20.</p>
<p>there's a lot of older people, mostly people who were prior-service, prep-schoolers, or went to civilian college before. you just have to learn to call people younger than you "sir" and "ma'am", but there's a lot of people who have to do it. and same with young... I didn't turn 18 until the school year had already started, and there's a good number of us</p>
<p>I'll be 19 in a few days actually. I've have heard (don't remember where) that up to ~50% of every incoming class is made up of people who have gone to a year or more of civilian college first. This may be grossly exaggerated, but I'm sure that there are more than a handful.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure you have to be at least 17 by July 1st of the year you enter the Academy. There aren't too many that enter at 17 that don't turn 18 that same year.</p>
<p>I wont turn 18 till April the next year.</p>
<p>"I wont turn 18 till April the next year."</p>
<p>Meaning you won't turn 21 until the month before you graduate? That will make you one of the youngest people in your class (but not as young as a firstie in my four degree squadron who turned 21 the day he graduated).</p>
<p>I won't have a problem with sir-ing and ma'am-ing younger people; I just don't want my peers to approach me any differently than an 18 year-old or think I'm not truly going through the same things they are because I'm older. Anyhow, I was just seeing who else on here was "old." Thanks for the input TN; you ask and answer helpful questions. UN, how exactly does the rule work with 4-degrees interacting with upperclassmen? A girl I shadowed in the fall was on probation for saying hi to upperclassmen. Does that apply when cadets are on weekend trips? Ski club, climbing club, IC teams..?</p>
<p>"A girl I shadowed in the fall was on probation for saying hi to upperclassmen."</p>
<p>You will NOT go on probation for just saying hi to an upperclassman - there's more to the story than what you heard.</p>
<p>Cadets in clubs and on sports teams have a little bit different relationship than the rest, in those atmospheres. For instance, if you're an IC in the middle of a game, you're not going to say, "Sir, may I ask a question? Sir, can you please pass me the ball." Also, even if things are a little more lax on the teams, outside of that, professionalism should still be maintained (although you'll see plenty of instances in which this does not happen).</p>
<p>You'll be told all about professional and unprofessional relationships when you get here so you're not walking around paranoid of getting in trouble. I'll give you a short synopsis: You can't be friends with any cadet who isn't a four degree, nor can you date them. (You also can't date enlisted people or officers as any kind of cadet.) If professionalism is thrown out the window, the system won't work as there needs to be a division line between fourth class cadets and the rest of the wing during the first year.</p>
<p>While it's everyone's responsibility to not frat, the upperclassman should definitely know better. However, if you ge the impression something isn't quite right, then there's a good chance you're right. Three degrees in particular tend to be very buddy-buddy with four degrees and there are issues every year with this - just don't get involved. You'll have enough to worry about without trying to carry on a relationship (friendship or otherwise) you're having to hide; 9 times out of 10, you'll eventually get caught anyway.</p>
<p>When I went to visit in Feb, the guys on the XC/Track team all seemed to be friends, 4 degrees with 1st degrees. I never saw any instances where the older guy treated the younger guy all that much differently, even when we were in the dorms and eating at the dining hall. Of course, like you mentioned, I'm sure this is because it was the team...</p>
<p>ICs do eat together at lunch, but I disagree with the lack of professionalism in the dorms (and to some extent at the lunch tables). Different situations call for different behavior, and the unprofessionalism in the dorms is what largely contributes to ICs being perceived as recipients of preferential treatment. It only takes a few of these encounters to "confirm" the negative stereotypes about ICs, which is rather unfortunate as the vast majority of ICs don't fit in that category.</p>