<p>A few of us have decided that it would be very helpful to have an area that is specific to the Air Force Prep School Class of 2009-2010. There seem to currently be no yahoo or other groups.</p>
<p>if you are a parent or student. And please help us spread the word. Eventually there will be a private parents group and very likely a student group as well.</p>
<p>Is there really any point in advertising this here? I’d assume that just about no one here is looking into some air force academy - or ever heard of it. This is a forum for students, not military cadets…</p>
<p>It would appear (from a cursory glance at the forum in the OP’s post) to be a prep school for HS kids interested in the USAFA. While there aren’t many military prep schools talked about often here (although Culver comes up), I would say that it definitely is a college prep school - be it for a specific college.</p>
<p>And come to think of it I think people have talked about certain NE boarding schools having setups for PGs preparing for the USNA. </p>
<p>Tom, you might want to consider that there are members on CC who are candidates for the USAFA and all of the other service academies, so a feeder school like the one mentioned would be very topical.</p>
<p>EMCS - Would you mind putting out a bit of information about the school, as most (perhaps hsmomstef might know - she’s from CO) of us regulars are unfamiliar with it.</p>
<p>The USAFA prep school is a high school meant to help students who aspire to be AF cadets gain admission into the academy. For whatever reason (mostly academic), these students were not able to get into USAFA and the prep school gives them the opportunity to improve their academics, get bigger in size (for athletes), and prepare themselves for the extreme rigors of cadet life. Think of it as a boarding school that offers a single PG year designed for a single (and singular) institution. Seeing as USAFA attracts such a bright and diverse group of students, the prep school is a way to help those who need help. </p>
<p>Tom’s sneering at the prep school is indicative of the sometimes chilling lack of perspective I find at the CC prep school site. There’s a bizarre sentiment here (expressed mostly by children) that the only education worth having is from five schools whose initials fit into an acronym and Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and (among the more democratic), the five other Ivies. It scares me that our culture is offering such a tremendous education to such narrow-minded children, and I pray that the first thing they learn in their prep schools is humility at their good fortune and deep respect for the people who find a way to get a great education wherever they are. Wake up, kids. Education is not about admission (I’ve met more than a few dolts from Harvard); it is about centering your life around a hunger for knowledge and the promise to spread that knowledge to help others.</p>
<p>What I’m saying is that this school is for 17-22 year olds… I’m not “sneering” at it. Let it be known that I’m a supporter of the troops and admire their strength and courage, but that’s not what my post was about. Rather than deriding the school, I was just wondering if this forum, you know, with young and “prejudiced” people like me who believe “that the only education worth having is from five schools whose initials fit into an acronym and Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and (among the more democratic), the five other Ivies,” is really the most effective place to advertise what is, unarguably, a singular, niche school.</p>
<p>Again, no offense to the school and you have to understand that at the moment I go to a school with no prestige or anything like that. Try to read my posts and not immediately dismiss me as some snob who has a bone to pick with lesser-known institutions, as I can assure you that this is indeed far from the truth.</p>
<p>So, I guess CC isn’t the place to discuss “singular, niche schools” like Interlochen either? Would Baskin Robbins be as good with only Vanilla, Chocolate, and Strawberry?</p>
<p>And your issue with that school catering to “17-22 year olds” - is there a problem with that? There are lots of folks every year asking if their 19-year-old should consider a PG year because they didn’t get into the school they wanted. </p>
<p>Tom, we can forgive people who post from the hip and correct later. However, you seem to be very comfortable with insisting that “your” ideas are more universal than they are. </p>
<p>It would be nice if you show some deference to those who present “different” ideas (especially new members like the OP). It helps grow CC from a bunch of people with the same experiences who just echo each other (see chances threads) to a community where different thinking is expressed and tolerated (and even sometimes accepted ).</p>
<p>As for your Interlochen reference, my dad used to teach there. Just thought I’d put that out there to further substantiate my claim that I’m not from some prestige-hungry background of pretentiousness.</p>
<p>And, once again, I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with any aspect of the school, including the fact that it caters to 17-22 year olds. What I’m saying is the same thing that I said in my last post - I’m not sure CC is an effective place to advertise this school. Because, as you pointed out, it’s full of “narrow-minded” individuals like myself. In fact, I think that the content of this thread itself only goes to affirm my assertion. Look at it. It consists of one post specifically about the school and then the rest of it is a giant argument, pitting PO’d adults against a young high school kid.</p>
<p>Take my posts as you will but remember that they’re not the attacks on the underdog institutions, ideas, and experiences that you’re making them out to be.</p>
<p>The point of the Interlochen mention was to point out that there are lots of “niche schools” that are welcomed on CC and that you shouldn’t question another “niche school” being added to the list as it appears you have done here.</p>
<p>And even if CC is full of those “narrow-minded individuals” (BTW I didn’t call you that), there is nothing wrong with broadening their view of the world. </p>
<p>I’m sorry if you feel it is the world against you. I’m just trying to make sure that all possible boarding school options are freely discussed - a truly liberal idea, no?</p>
<p>A little piece of wisdom - When you find yourself in a hole, digging is probably not the way out.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention another population served by the USAFA prep school: enlisted men and women who are singled out by superiors as having what it takes to become an officer. Often these folks went through high school without college in mind, and thus they attend the prep school in order to prepare them for a 4 year undergraduate experience.</p>
<p>Anyone lucky enough to be interested in Prep School Admissions should be intellectually curious enough to care about other pathways to academic success.</p>
<p>Ugh. We clearly both misunderstand each other. We don’t disagree, but clearly neither of us is listening to each other. There is no point to this. It’s stale. You win. I give up. Here’s my resignation. Congratulations.</p>
<p>There’s no winning or losing here. Great fortune should bring gratitude and responsibility. You’ll remember this exchange when you are ready. And someday, maybe, you may find yourself in my class and can show what you’ve learned.</p>
<p>I am certainly not going to enter the fray – but I did want to make a correction. </p>
<p>USAFA Prep school is not a high school, but rather like a junior college. Students who complete the USAFA Prep school year (it is a one year program) and do not go on to a Service Academy are granted college credit for their classes.</p>
<p>It is like a prep school or residential college --you live in dorms, eat at the cafeteria and attend classes in the classroom buildings. Students at the USAFA prep school do not live with, attend classes or participate in activities with the actual USAFA cadets. They are in a physically separate part of the campus – miles from the cadet area.</p>
<p>The only people who can actually apply to the Prep School are Airmen (enlisted members of the US Air Force). Civilians and enlisted members of other military branches apply to the Air Force Academy – and they may receive admission to the prep school is the Academy feels that they want to admit them, but they have some deficits to make up.</p>
<p>From my experience with the prep school cadets (I have worked with a number of them) they fall into several categories: athletes who need additional academics to stay alive in the rigorous USAFA classes, Airmen who lack the academic classes to do well and high school students that lack the academic background to do well. The Air Force Academy is very demanding – physically and mentally. </p>
<p>I do know from personal experience that many of the athletes that attend the prep school don’t make it – the academics are just too difficult, and they drop out. </p>
<p>Attending the prep school does not guarantee you an appointment at the Air Force Academy – but if you do well at the prep school, most students do go onto the Academy.</p>
<p>Finally – I don’t see anything wrong with having info about the USAFA prep school on this forum, if only to correct misunderstandings. However – because civilians cannot actually apply to the USAFA Prep school, I can’t imagine that we would get much traffic from students.</p>
<p>I am sure he wouldn’t be the first – but the college counseling dept may not be as educated on the requirements. They do tend to look at things differently than regular colleges. I would advise you to do some research on your own – and application procedures for the service academies start in the spring of junior year, so you have to know early what to do.</p>
).</p>