Physics/Aero Eng + AFROTC at MIT, Yale, USAFA, etc.

Chance Me / Match Me
1

<p>White Male w/ Asperger’s syndrome
Hometown: Glenside, PA (outside of Philly)
Attending public school</p>

<p>Intended major: Aeronautical Engineering or Physics
Air Force ROTC required</p>

<p>Reach: MIT, Yale, UChicago
Mid-Level: USAFA, USNA, RPI, Carnegie Mellon
Safety: Penn State, Drexel, Michigan, UMDCP</p>

<p>Tests:
-ACT: 34 comp, 35 math, 35 science, 34 english, 33 english+writing, 32 reading
-SAT I: 2140 superscore, 2130 single, 790 math, 720 writing, 630 reading
-SAT II: 760 math II, 760 chem, 680 physics (didn’t send this to MIT :slight_smile: )
-AP: 3 x 5 (Stat, BC Calc, Chem)</p>

<p>Grades:
-Rank: 29/615 (top 5%)
-Unweighted: 3.902 (taking band really kills your GPA)
-Weighted (out of 4.6): 4.387
-All As, two Bs across all grades from 9-11</p>

<p>Senior Schedule:
-7 AP exams (Physics C (x2), Economics (x2), USH, Spanish Lang., English Lit)
-My school doesn’t really offer APs outside of senior year, only if you really opened your schedule up and/or skipped a grade or two in math (like I did)</p>

<p>ECs:
-Boy Scouts (2006-2012) - Eagle Scout, Senior Patrol Leader, National Youth Leadership Training in 2011
-Civil Air Patrol (2008-present) - Mitchell Award (close to Earhart Award), Flight Commander, Region Cadet Leadership School in 2010, Staffed Basic Encampment in 2011, 3 National Activities
-Marching Band (2008-present) - Quartermaster of the Band, Former Section Lieutenant
-School Musical (2007-present)
-JV Spring Track (2010-present) - Scholar/Athlete Award in 2012 (for Boys Varsity/JV)
-NHS (2011-present)</p>

<p>Honors/Awards:
-Eagle Scout (2012)
-Mitchell Award (Civil Air Patrol, 2012)
-Scholar/Athlete Award (JV Track, 2012)
-Faculty Award (9th Grade, 2010)</p>

<p>Unemployed</p>

<p>Summer Activities:
-Boys State
-SUPTFC (CAP, orientation to Air Force pilot training)
-National Blue Beret (CAP, doing work at the largest airshow in the U.S. - EAA AirVenture)</p>

<p>I’m split between comfort and doubt. Any feedback from the CC community?</p>

2

<p>I’m not really familiar with the details of admissions, and have never chanced anyone before, but at least to me, you seem to be a great fit for pretty much all of the schools! Of course, the “Reaches” you listed are difficult for anyone, but you have an excellent shot for all of them. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>^Thanks.</p>

<p>Bump.</p>

4

<p>The biggest issue you’re going to run into is the Dodmerb (medical) exam with the Asperger’s. If you go to:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/613003p.pdf[/url]”>http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/613003p.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>And look at page 47, disqualification code 29 (Learning, Psychiatric & Behavioral), subcategory c states as a disqualification:</p>

<p>c. Pervasive developmental disorders (299 series) including Asperger Syndrome, autistic spectrum disorders, and pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (299.9).</p>

<p>Yes, DQ’s can be waived, but the service academies and ROTC have become incredibly more competitive over the last few years due to numbers and budget cuts, so many programs are not considering waivers. For the academies that means you’d be ineligible for an appointment and for ROTC, while you could still receive a scholarship, once the exam was done it would be up to the specific program to waive or not. Which means that technically you could be waiting until late spring to find out if you’d even be eligible. If this is make or break in order to be able to attend that top school, you can see the problem. Some of this may depend on if you were diagnosed with Aspergers at age 5 and had no issues or accommodations since elementary school compared with if you are still receiving treatment, medication or accommodations in school. </p>

<p>Beyond that, your application looks very strong for the academies from a whole but realize that for example with the class of 2014 (now juniors), they were admitting around 1400 students and are now cutting down to around 1050 (for USAFA this year). Most appointments go out based on region meaning that you need to win your congressional slate to have a chance. Most east coast areas are fairly to extremely competitive. Similarly, ROTC scholarships have been reduced, particularly for AF in terms of Type 1 (full tuition for any school) ones. You’d be most likely to receive a Type 3, which only provides $15,000 a year for the last 3 years. This isn’t directed to you personally based on your stats, but just to anyone in general and again might not be enough for a school costing $55K+. </p>

<p>If you’d like to shoot me a PM, I’d be glad to email you personally and answer any other questions (remember it blocks emails in PM’s so you have to spell it out) - I have a son at the AF Academy and another one doing NROTC at MIT, both of whom received AFROTC scholarships and were accepted to USNA as well, so I’ve gone through the admissions process a few times lately with them. I’m also a liaison officer for West Point and grad. </p>

<p>TL/DR: The Aspergers will be a huge issue, and in general getting into an academy or an ROTC scholarship is getting very difficult. Ignoring the Aspergers/medical side, from the schools I know:</p>

<p>MIT - definite possibility IF you receive the scholarship at an early board since admissions does talk to the ROTC staff, who do have some input on the decision.</p>

<p>USAFA/USNA: Very strong possibility based on stats, but will come down to your specific location and how you stack up against those 10 individuals.</p>

<p>RPI/Michigan: Definitely in</p>

<p>CM: Reach/mid-level as you stated. ROTC does not talk to admissions. My son who’s at MIT was waitlisted for CM (not for Comp Sci, which is the most competitive).</p>

<p>I don’t know enough to chance on the other schools.</p>

5

<p>To the poster above, there is no Type 3 scholarship.
The AFROTC scholarships are as follows:</p>

<p>Type 1 – Pays full college tuition, most fees and $900 per year for books. Approximately 5% of our four-year scholarship winners will be offered a Type-1 scholarship (mostly in technical fields ).</p>

<p>Type 2 – Pays college tuition and most fees up to $18,000 and $900 per year for books. Approximately 15% of our four-year scholarship winners will be offered a Type-2 scholarship (mostly in technical fields). If a student attends an institution where the tuition exceeds $18,000 per year, then he/she pays the difference. All three-year scholarships are Type 2.</p>

<p>Type 7 – Pays college tuition up to the equivalent of the in-state rate at a public school and $900 per year for books. If a student receives a Type-7 offer but wishes to attend a college/university where they do not qualify under the guidelines above, the student can convert the four-Year Type-7 scholarship to a three-Year Type-2 scholarship. You cannot activate a Type-7 scholarship at a non-qualifying school and pay the difference.</p>

<p>Directly from the AFROTC website</p>

6

<p>Sorry - yeah, Type 7. The third one down as I was thinking of it. Wow, when did the $15,000 a year go up to $18,000? My son is a sophomore and know it was $15K then when he had the offer. But anyway, based on your info above, 80% of people receive that scholarship which would now be $18K a year (a drop in the bucket for a school like MIT that’s around $57K).</p>

7

<p>^Thanks for the advice. You can e-mail me at onetimeoneplace at gmail dot com if you want.</p>

<p>Bump.</p>

8

<p>Weekend bump</p>

9

<p>SAT CR is low, so I would use the ACT score. What was your score in AP English?</p>

10

<p>Big bump with some new data:</p>

<p>New test scores:
-October SAT: 800 math, 600 reading, 690 writing
-October ACT: 35 comp, 36 math, 35 reading, 35 science, 34 english, 31 english+writing</p>

<p>For now, my list looks as follows:</p>

<p>Reach: MIT (submitted), Harvard (thinking), Princeton (thinking), Cornell (thinking), Yale (thinking)
Mid Level: USAFA (in progress), USNA (in progress), UVa (submitted), Carnegie Mellon (thinking), RPI (submitted)
Reach: Michigan (thinking), Ohio State (submitted), Penn State (accepted, waiting on Honors), Drexel (submitted)</p>

<p>Navy ROTC - submitted
Air Force ROTC - finishing up on 12/4</p>

<p>Medically qualified to the Academies, just need the Candidate Fitness Assessment (working to complete by end of December)</p>

<p>My parents are in a debate over what I should apply to. Considering my new ACT scores, I have a chance.</p>

11

<p>Definitely keep in touch with the AFROTC & NROTC commanders at MIT if you haven’t already. I might contact them again just asking them for your support and reinforcing why you want to go there as they do have some “pull” with admissions. If you end up considering there, my son is in NROTC there and has friends in AFROTC if you’d like to talk to anyone or have any questions, so just let me know and I could get you in touch with them. Congrats on the improved scores and medical clearance!</p>