<p>So who’s been accepted to AFA? Do you have other offers that are making the decision a tough one?</p>
<p>I have been given a Letter of Assurance from the Air Force Academy. So I am in, in the sense that the school has accepted me. Now I am just waiting for my Nomination from one of my senators. It is taking them awhile though…and I am getting anxious. I think the deadline for deciding is Jan 31. </p>
<p>Ryan</p>
<p>I’m in, as in, I can show up to in-processing day June 30, 2005 as soon as I send in the “yes” card. As a matter of fact my appointment is sitting right here on my desk with me. There’s a pretty picture of the birdie inside. Whee, prettieful birdie that kicks your arse when you’re not looking… </p>
<p>In all seriousness though, it’s the only place I’ve been accepted to yet. The next schools I’ll be hearing from (come in mid-late March) are UCSD and Berkeley, and I know I’ll get into the former (and most likely the latter). After that, the big-league schools start coming in around April 15 (so there’s still a way to go).</p>
<p>Personally I don’t think my choice is going to be very hard. It actually looks most likely that I’ll end up at USAFA. I really don’t want to go to UCSD (kinda too close), and I REALLY want to avoid Berkely. I also don’t think I’m going to get into any of the other places I applied to, and even if I did, there are just alot of “issues” that would probably prevent me from going (among them being my parents’ refusal to pay for anything that isn’t Ivy League).</p>
<p>The only school I would have an extremely hard time turning down would be Harvard, in which case I have no idea what I’d do. Harvard… <em>wishful sigh</em> What a place. That school is so me in just as many ways as USAFA is. BUT, lucky for me, I don’t think I’ll get in, soo… I probably won’t have to worry. :)</p>
<p>But nonetheless I am looking forward to whatever paths Fate deals to me, and I’ll make it all work.</p>
<p>Since I grew up in Oregon and went to SF State - I tried to talk my son into considering UofO or Berkeley (especially for rugby) - but his internal republican tendencies kicked in and I’ve let it go.</p>
<p>It sounds like whatever your decision - you’ll make the best of it! </p>
<p>Cheers!</p>
<p>falconflyer22 - Good luck on that nomination! Keep the faith - it’s worth it…</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about your desire to go to Harvard. 50 years ago it probably would make a difference in your life but today Harvard is a second-rate institution when it comes to UNDERGRADUATE education. Think about it for graduate school. If you go to Harvard you can walk around with your Harvard t-shirt on and think what a big deal you are but you will NEVER be taught by a full professor. You will be relegated to being taught by graduate students. And if you look at the statistics for success after Harvard or Yale - they never filter out the fact that many of the attendees have inherited money. Would be nice to start a career with $10-million in your pocket. Do you really think that George Bush or John Kerry succeeded because they went to Yale? Shame you haven’t given yourself a chance by applying to a top-notch liberal arts school with small classes that focuses on undergraduates.</p>
<p>I don’t want the thread to go TOO far off topic, but I’ll agree with bondnj0’s argument–if not his/her tone. A “name” is nice for an undergraduate education, but real interaction with professors, small classrooms, not having to fight or worry about if you’ll get the class you need to graduate WHEN you need it, access to faculty after hours for help, faculty that are actually professionally involved in your likely career choice and care about more than just the class you’re in… Wow, sounds a LOT like the service academies–or some of the smaller undergrad-focused schools out there (e.g., Harvey Mudd).</p>
<p>I did my MS (Aero & Astro) at Stanford. GRADUATE classes were bigger there, and faculty interaction less (this improves for PhDs) than at USAFA. Undergrads had it much worse academically. Of course, living in Palo Alto (if you could afford it) was great–having the AF pay my salary AND all of my tuition to do it made it a productive year.</p>
<p>I don’t want the thread to get off topic either, but in my defense I was just responding to the question, bondnj0. The original poster asked if other schools had made offers, and I was answering on what I’d do were Harvard to make an offer. I don’t mean to be rude, but you don’t really know me, so insinuating that I’m making/made bad choices because I like certain aspects about Harvard is sort of out of line (and you must admit, hyperbolizing to the extent that you claim NO classes there are taught by professors is a bit excessive). </p>
<p>You also seem to assume that I have’t considered the things you suggested (Harvard undergrad isn’t worth it, a lot of it is just about money, do I really want to be in debt for so long, etc). Again, you don’t really know me, so I guess you really wouldn’t know how much I’ve struggled with those very issues you mention. To be fair, I’ve also struggled with many issues that come along with USAFA. It’s just a natural part of deciding where to go.</p>
<p>And as for saying “shame on me” because I am/was not interested in small liberal arts colleges, that was out of line, too. You really don’t know anything about my application or family situation.</p>
<p>Truth of the matter is (just like I said in my post) that I probably won’t even get into Harvard though. Another truth is that every college has “good” and “bad” things about it, USAFA included. Maybe Harvard has more classes taught by TAs, but USAFA has an entire life-style of restrictions attatched to it. As I am going to be faced with what path to choose, I think it’s only fair that I be allowed to see the advantages in other schools that aren’t USAFA, and if questioning and really weighing all of the aspects to an AF life-style makes me a bad person or less qualified or just not dedicated enough, then maybe it’s not the place for me.</p>
<p>I’m sorry for being a little defensive, and I’ll try not to say anything else about this.</p>
<p>Sorry, Vampielinred - I didn’t mean to presume anything - only to ease your concern about what you might miss if you don’t go to Harvard. I’m a parent - I attended Dartmouth College because it was small and focused on undergraduates - aside from three intro courses I never had a class larger than 17 students. Here’s an excerpt from an article about Harvard - USAFA would be a great choice - for the type of education you’ll receive and that the fact that you have dynamic and exciting job serving your country when you graduate. Except for those who want to be brain surgeons, I don’t know anyone who really knew what they wanted to do after they graduated - the Air Force will give you responsiblity far beyond the private sector.</p>
<p>Here’s the excerpt:</p>
<p>Indeed, many Harvard students have found, upon arriving in Cambridge, that professors are preoccupied with research and do not much care for their students. I don’t think that I’ve had any opportunity to talk with my professor this whole semester, says freshman Elizabeth Keany. </p>
<p>Ostensibly the center of American academic life, Harvard University seems to have abandoned the teaching enterprise in favor of professors’ individual scholarly pursuits. </p>
<p>Harvard has long led research institutions in the competition for high profile scholarly distinction to the detriment, some critics claim, of undergraduate education. </p>
<p>A report by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America’s Research Universities, concludes that The research universities have too often failed, and continue to fail, their undergraduate populations . . . Recruitment materials display proudly the world-famous professors, the splendid facilities and the ground-breaking research that goes on within them, but thousands of students graduate without ever seeing the world-famous professors or tasting genuine research. </p>
<p>Some of their instructors are likely to be badly trained or even untrained teaching assistants who are groping their way toward a teaching technique; some others may be tenured drones who deliver set lectures from yellowed notes, making no effort to engage the bored minds of the students in front of them. </p>
<p>It’s just pitiful, complains one Harvard student, when you’ll ask a Teaching Fellow a question about what a professor said in a lecture and he doesn’t know. You think to yourself, `is this guy serious?’ The thing is, he’s not just serious, but we both know there’s no way I can get an answer. </p>
<p>The Teaching Fellows’ lack of preparation and training is increasingly prevalent at Harvard, especially in introductory courses. At the beginning of each semester, there is a desperate scramble for graduate students to lead sections in oversubscribed core courses with course advertisements for Teaching Fellows on departmental bulletin boards, reads an article in the Harvard Crimson… Yet these last ditch section leaders provide the only personal instruction students get in large lecture classes.</p>
<p>No worries bondnj0, I actually think it was just a misunderstanding. Thank you for posting that bit about Harvard though. It’s actually really sad that TAs teach so many courses there or at any civilian university. It just shows how hypocritial such schools are that they boast such an exceptional academic staff when in reality students barely get to interact with them. That’s actually one huge reason why I want to avoid UCSD or Berkely. An intro to chem class there, for example, probably has between 500 and 1000 students (maybe even more), and you never get to see the prof. It really is done all by TAs. The only time at UCs you really get the advantage of small classes are in the really obscure fields that nobody cares about. </p>
<p>It’s too bad that that kind of thing runs rampant elsewhere, but it is certainly a plus about USAFA. They pride themselves on having a faculty that truly does interact with the students, and I definately like that.</p>
<p>Either way, it really doesn’t matter, since I’m almost positive that I’ll be going to USAFA. Thank you for the insight though, I do appreciate it. :)</p>
<p>first off… congrats on the appointment…
and if you are so sure about getting into berkerley… i’m pretty sure you have a really good chance at any school</p>