<p>Im new here. My Name is Ian Gondwe and I am 16 and would like to join the USAFA. I live in Lilongwe, Malawi. I attend a school at a International school here. This is where the first problem comes in, the school I goto use the British school system. From what I have read it seems very different from the ones you use in America. How would the Air Force Academy evaluate my grades? The Air Force website also does not have any information for American citizens applying from abroad. What do I do as I am not a resident of the USA. The website says you must be a resident of a state to be able to apply for a nomination. These are my only worries because I’am otherwise pretty sure I could make the academy(not trying to sound cocky, please dont misinterpret that). I am in the soccer team here at Bishop Mackenzie(We are the first african team to qualify for the under-18 international schools soccer tournament held in Milan), in the field hockey team(awarded best senior player this year), and I am on the track team so I think I can get through the atheletics. I am also in all the accelerated classes here(honors) so I think with a little hard work I could make the grade. I also have a frozen private pilots licence as you must be 17 to obtain your licence in Malawi. Thanks for reading my long boring post but any help would be greatly accepted as you are my only resource at the moment due to where I live.</p>
<p>To receive an offer of appointment to the Air ForceAcademy, an applicant must obtain a nomination from an official source. There are many nomination sources and applicants are encouraged to apply to all available sources. This normally includes a U.S. Representative, two U.S. Senators and the Vice President of the United States. If your parents are U.S. citizens, they should have a home of legal residence in the U.S. The U.S. Representative and Senators for that legal residence are the official sources you should contact. Most members of congress have information concerning nominations posted on their respective web sites.</p>
<p>The nomination application process is similar to applying for a school, and being personally acquainted with the person from whom you are seeking a nomination is not required.</p>
<p>Submitting your letters of application for nominations should be one of your first steps in the application process. Many members of Congress evaluate candidates during the summer months and make their decisions in early fall. This varies from staff to staff so if you have specific questions about timelines notify the appropriate congressional and Senate staff person.</p>
<p>Your parents are legal residents of a state. That is the state that is the state you will try to get a nomination from. They have ways to interview you via proxy with a proctor or by phone. You will apply like normal students. Just make sure you take the SAT/ACT tests too.</p>
<p>My son is working on his AICE Diploma and taking the A-Levels too. So the british programs are not foreign to them.</p>
<p>Thanks so much guys.I was born in Washington State Well, only my mom is American and she was naturalized. She got her citizenship in Washington so is that the state I should get my nomination? Also you apply to the academy in your Junior year right? We'll is it possible to update your application as you achieve more in Secondary school? Thansk for taking the time to answer my questions.</p>
<p>I was living abroad (Canada) before I came here, I had a dual citizenship. Talk to your ALO about what he/she thinks you should do, you will probably fall under Vice Presidential or Presidential, or there are different, smaller categories, one of which you might fall under. The application process is more difficult because of grades, but what I did was have my school, which has different guidelines for letter grades, has no such thing as a GPA, and does not rank students, as well as the fact that the classes are pretty different, send a sheet along with my transcript explaining the grading situation, and I discussed it with the Academy and they converted to what they felt was appropriate. Also, learn about the American classes and convert to the best of your knowledge your classes to American equivalents. That's what I did, and while the process was more difficult, including when your only option with the online stuff is to fill out a state of residence and zip code and the page won't accept until you put them in. The DoDMeRB stuff had this happen a lot. Talk to your ALO, he/she can make a lot happen. Good luck!</p>