<p>Thanks Redhead for a very informative and accurate posting. I’m hoping that if my son get’s an appointment this month or November, that he will put his options back into perspective. There’s obviously a lot of advantages to a full ride scholarship to Michigan State, Cornell, and some others. Obviously, the biggest advantage is not having a comittment to the military. On the other hand, the Academies have the advantages of serving your country, job already lined up after graduating, travel, small school environment; (4000 students compared to 45,000 at michigan state), etc…</p>
<p>I’m glad my son has options. As a 45 year old adult, decisions are a lot easier. We have seen the good and bad of a lot in life. For a 17 year old without those experiences, it’s very tempting when you get all this attention from these different schools.</p>
<p>This is why I started this thread directed mainly towards existing cadets. While I appreciate the suggestions of the parents, and I believe it is valuable, I really wanted to hear from the 18-22 year old cadet. Cadets who received an appointment, but at the same time received offers from other traditional schools. Especially where money wasn’t an issue because you happen to have been offered a full ride scholarship. What were the things you looked at when making your final choice. What was it that made you finally decide on the academy.</p>
<p>While I wasn’t trying to cut down on the other academies, I still believe that the others put out LOA and appointments a lot earlier than the Air Force. I know others have said that my assumption wasn’t totally accurate. I concede that. The only people I see getting LOA’s are those on the these forums. I’m sure that the “Majority” do get the loa and appointment later on just like the Air Force. I was just thinking that when an LOA is given out early in August-September, it definitely has an affect on the candidate and how much interest they put into other schools and offers. By the time early LOA/appointments are given in the Air Force; October-Novemeber, many of these students have already started getting offers and letters of interest from many other schools. </p>
<p>Realize that the majority of Air Force academy cadets had above average grades in high school, pretty good act/sat scores, pretty good class ranking, etc… Many of the students are going to get a plethora of offers. Throw in the students who are 4.0gpa; Class ranking of #1-#5 ACT>28 SAT>1900 and the list of offers go up a lot.</p>
<p>That’s why I started this thread. To ask the cadets, being they fall into this select group of academic achievers, how did you handle all these other offers and then eventually deciding on the Air Force Academy. I’m sure there are some that just had the academy in their mind and threw out all other offers. I’m sure however that a lot of questioning, second thoughts, reviewing options, etc… went through most of your minds. After all, this is the student’s decision to make, not the parent. Thanks readhead and everyone else for the input. Love to hear from more of the cadets. later… Mike…</p>