USAF Academy in a Nutshell

If your goal in life is to be a pilot, I truly believe that the Ultimate Career Path is signing up directly with a Guard or Reserve unit. If you can enlist with that unit while you’re in college, you’ll be even better off. However, this isn’t the only way to do it. If you want to serve as a pilot on Active Duty, then attending the USAF Academy in Colorado Springs, CO, could be a great option for four main reasons:

1. It’s a fantastic school
2. The education is valued at $416,000...and you get that practically for free
3. You’re guaranteed a high-paying job when you graduate
4. If you’re medically qualified to be a pilot, you’re all but guaranteed to get a pilot slot

The USAF Academy is highly competitive and the experience is not for everyone. However, if you think it might work for you, read on.

Table of Contents

1. The Case for Attending USAFA
2. Background Information
3. Applying to USAFA
4. Life as a Cadet
5. Flying at USAFA
6. How to Get a Pilot Slot
7. Is It Worth It?

The Case for Attending USAFA

Over the past few decades, the cost of college has skyrocketed. Americans worry that unsecured student loan debt has the potential to crash our economy, much like the housing bubble that popped in 2008. Many young men and women have accrued that debt while earning degrees that aren’t very marketable. They graduate and find themselves unable to get work in their desired field, if at all. It’s pretty tough to pay off a six figure student loan when you can’t even find a decent job.

The USAF Academy solves all those problems. New cadets bring roughly $2,500 to cover costs like uniforms and a mandatory computer but pay nothing for the rest of their time. The US government covers tuition, room, board, books, fees, etc...even health care. In fact, cadets get paid as members of the military, eventually receiving several hundred dollars a month, on top of all their other benefits.

Although the Academy offers some less-marketable degrees (ahem, philosophy), it offers an impressive array of technical majors. The Academy’s engineering programs consistently rank among the Top 10 in the country. Graduates with technical majors are likely to get solid jobs in their fields. They’ll do research & development, but will also quickly move into management rolls - making them highly competitive in the civilian job market later in life. I personally have friends from USAFA who now work at Blue Origin, Bigelow Aerospace, and Scaled Composites (well, technically Northrop Grumman now). If you want to be a no-kidding rocket scientist for a living, you can’t beat a degree from USAFA.

Most BogiDope readers are interested in being pilots. We don’t necessarily want to work as engineers. Like it or not though, you’re going to have to get a degree in something. If you pick something valuable, like one of USAFA’s engineering degrees, it will open doors for you in the future. Want to be a test pilot or an astronaut? You’d better have a degree in science or engineering. There’s also the ever-present threat of losing your medical certificate as a pilot. If that were to happen, it’d sure be nice to have a highly-marketable degree from a respected school.

Although the Academy gives you free school, a guaranteed job, and a fantastic degree, perhaps the most important reasons you might want to go there is that the Academy is allocated roughly half of the USAF’s annual pilot training slots. Most Academy classes contain enough people who aren’t medically qualified to even be pilots, so if you meet the medical standards, you’re almost guaranteed a spot. In my graduating class, there were only about 30 people (at the rock-bottom of my class’ rankings) that didn’t have the option of being a pilot. In 2017, the Academy actually had unfilled pilot slots. In most cases, if you’re medically qualified and don’t want to fly, you have to report in to the Commandant and explain why.

Other than getting hired directly by a Guard or Reserve unit, there is no better shot at an Air Force pilot slot than the USAF Academy. 

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Background Information

For starters, let’s get some terminology straight. The US Air Force Academy is frequently abbreviated as USAFA. That’s pronounced you-SA-fa. (Kind of like Mufasa. Oooh, say it again!) It’s also sometimes referred to as “the Southern Colorado School for wayward boys and girls,” “Camp USAFA,” or simply “The Zoo.” (While marching in formation past the famous Cadet Chapel where tourists get to stand and gaze at the cadets it’s not uncommon to hear, “Look mommy! There’s a girl one!”)

Founded in 1954, USAFA is the youngest of America’s service academies. It’s nestled on 18,000 gorgeous acres along the Rampart Range, the foothills to the Rocky Mountains. The campus is relatively small, fitting for a student body of roughly 4,400 cadets. The Academy as a base has its own airfield, a separate section of base with housing and facilities for professors and support personnel, a hospital, a golf course, and more. The campus/base is absolutely gorgeous. It's great for running and hiking. The buildings are designed to invoke a sense of futurism. The most famous building on base is the Cadet Chapel.

Graduating classes start with 1000-1300 Basic Cadets and usually end up graduating just under 1000 officers four years later. Each cadet becomes a 2nd Lieutenant in the USAF and is required to serve on Active Duty for at least 5 years. Cadets who go on to attend pilot training are obligated to serve for 10 years, starting on the day they receive their wings.

Although USAFA is first and foremost a college, it’s also a military institution. The Cadet Wing is divided up into four Groups. Each group contains 10 Squadrons. Each squadron lives together in a section of the dorms. (Living in the dorms is mandatory. Also, you’re not allowed to be married or responsible for any dependents as a cadet.) The Wing has a full military chain of command with leaders and staff officers, etc. Cadets wear uniforms to class every day, and meals are only offered at certain times. There is no skipping class. There is no leaving without a pass. The command post plays Taps on loudspeakers all over campus every night and you’re not allowed out of your room after that point, except to use the restroom. Some of these restrictions make USAFA unattractive, but we’ll discuss shortly how to thrive in this environment. First, you have to get there.

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Applying to USAFA

The Academy is very competitive with a 12.3% acceptance rate. While not quite as competitive as Harvard, it’s still tougher than most of the UC-system schools, and a lot harder to get into than UGA. The application process is more difficult than average and must be pursued aggressively.

It should be obvious that you need the best possible grades and SAT/ACT scores to get into any college these days. USAFA also requires you to take a fitness test with some uncommon events that are surprisingly challenging for some applicants, and you have to pass a series of medical exams administered by the Department of Defense Medical Examination Review Board. (Yes, DODMERB is as daunting a government bureaucracy as it sounds. Pro tip: don’t ever let a doctor diagnose you with asthma. Irritation or allergies? Fine, but never asthma.)

Even with these straightforward ways to rank applications, there are still too many competitive people. The Academy also looks at your other activities during high school: sports, clubs, service organizations, work, etc. If you want to be competitive, you need to be involved in at least some of each of these. As a military future officer (pilot or otherwise) your primary job description starts with “Leadership.” As such, you need to show leadership in as many of these activities as possible. You might play a different sport each season and be a member of 20 different clubs, but that won’t impress anyone. You’re far better off being the team captain for one sport and the president of one club than just a member of a bunch. You need to be the Cadet Commander in ROTC or CAP, the Drum Major of the marching band, the Senior Patrol Leader and an Eagle Scout, and the Captain of your tennis team.

You’ll submit your grades and scores, letters of recommendation, some essays (no, not just one), and a summary of all your activities to the Academy’s online portal at AcademyAdmissions.com. Once your application has reached a certain completion level, you’ll be contacted by an Admission Liaison Offer, like me. Our job is to mentor you through the application process, but also to conduct an interview. (Don’t worry...they’re all done online now and we wear polo shirts instead of uniforms. I guess in-person interviews have been deemed too intimidating.)

You shouldn’t take this interview lightly though. This ALO is the only human being from the USAF that speaks directly to you during the application process. The questions we ask shouldn’t be a big surprise. What we’re really trying to get at when we talk to you is stories from your life where you exercised leadership, teamwork, and character to accomplish something above average. Ideally, you’d have lots of examples like this, each one from a different area of your life (academics, sports, clubs, work, family, church/community, etc.) The best interview ever would consist of the ALO asking a question and you spending the next 2-3 minutes telling a great story like this...for every question. This is absolutely something you can prepare for.

As if all this wasn’t enough, it’s critical to note that you can’t get into the Academy just by applying. You must also receive a nomination from a member of Congress, the Vice President, the President, or a few other sources. Each of the 500+ Congressional Representatives and Senators has his or her own application and interview process and it’s up to you to figure out what they are and get the applications done.

Each Congressperson is limited to having 10 cadets attending each of the military service academies at any given time. Depending on where you live, this might mean that there are only a couple spots available for USAFA in a given year. For this reason, it’s critical for you to apply for a nomination with every possible source: your Representative, both of your Senators, and the Vice President at the very least. Now, if your application is amazing and the Academy really wants you, it’s sometimes possible for them to ask a Congressperson from a district with fewer cadets to put you on his or her “slate.” However, you shouldn’t plan on this. Apply with everyone!

Ideally, this all works out. You complete the arduous USAFA application and ace your interview. You get at least one nomination. That’s only the start of the journey.

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Life as a Cadet

Unlike most schools where your parents help you carry your belongings to your new dorm room and maybe you hang out for a while, starting at USAFA is a shock. Your parents drop you off at Doolittle Hall where you board a bus. You all wave and smile as the bus pulls away, but then the senior cadets on the bus flip a switch and things get ugly. You’ll spend the next 6 weeks getting yelled at and pushed to your physical and mental limits. Though certainly nowhere near as tough as Marine Corps boot camp, USAFA’s Basic Cadet Training earns its nickname of BCT (pronounced “beast”). I could tell you all sorts of stories, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll refer you to the Academy’s official description.

You might think that the end of BCT marks the end of the pain, but you’d be wrong. As a fourth class cadet (freshman) at the Academy, you spend the next 7-8 months in only slightly better conditions. You’re at the position of attention anytime you’re not in your dorm room or the academic building. You’re required to greet upper class cadets by name (the equivalent of saluting senior officers) and you’ll get screamed at if you screw that up. You’re required to be in some type of uniform 24/7, and you only get passes to leave base a few times a month. You go to class all day, then after school, the upper class cadets will take you out for “training sessions” that feel a lot like flashbacks to BCT.

It’s a tough year. You’ll make some great friends and have some great experiences despite it all. However, it bears almost no resemblance to the typical “college experience.” Thankfully, it does end eventually. Most years, the culmination is a 24-36 hour ordeal called “Recognition.” Once it’s all over, life settles into a more normal routine.

The Academy cycles between hardcore military and more relaxed, depending on the leadership and social/political climate of the year. You’ll generally be required to wake up at the same time every morning, with the bugle call Reveille playing. (You will learn to despise that song.) Some years breakfast is optional, while others it’s mandatory. Yes, someone will be looking for you.

The school day consists of seven class periods, and you have two different class schedules on alternating days of the week. At most colleges, taking 9-12 credits (3-4 classes) is considered “full-time.” You will likely never take fewer than 5 classes (15 credits) in any semester at USAFA. However, my average was about 6.5 classes and my record was 8 classes for 23.5 credits. If you’re driven enough to get into the Academy, you were probably good enough at high school that you didn’t actually have to study all that much. It doesn’t matter how bright you were before, you will have to study, hard, at USAFA. You’ll also put in long hours on projects.

Many colleges will allow students an unlimited amount of time to finish their degree, as long as they keep paying. Many engineering programs expect students to take a full 5 years to complete. Neither of those is an option at USAFA. Everyone graduates in 4 years, or you get kicked out. It’s a lot of work.

The academic day is broken up by lunch. Again, things change from year to year, but Academy leadership tends to prefer an event they call Noon Meal Formation. This involves all 4400 cadets in the wing lining up in a giant military formation on the center of campus (called The Terrazzo) and marching into the chow hall in a big parade. The whole process takes about a half-hour. It’s novel the first couple times you do it, but it gets old after a while...especially when it’s hot or cold outside.

After class lets out for the day, you’ll need (and want) to get to studying. However, you’ll probably need (and want) some sort of physical activity. Sometimes you’ll just be able to work out on your own. However, a significant portion of the Cadet Wing is involved in intercollegiate or club athletics. Those athletes can expect to be at practice until roughly sunset every night. Even if you’re not on a traveling team, you’ll be expected to participate in one of your squadron’s intramural sports teams for most of the year. This only occupies a couple of hours of your time. The competition usually isn’t fierce and if done right, it’s usually fun.

Dinner is optional and it’s the one meal that you’re allowed to bring back to your dorm room in a to-go container. The Academy has one building, Arnold Hall, that approximates what most colleges would think of as a “student center.” There’s a small food court that offers a nice alternative to the dining hall. There’s room to study. There’s even a bar named after Hap Arnold for anyone of drinking age.

And so, once the bad part of freshman year is over, you settle into a groove. Wake up, class, lunch, class, athletics, study, sleep. Although the classes are demanding, they’re also pretty interesting. Every cadet is required to take one class in each of the major engineering disciplines (Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Aeronautical, Astronautical) along with plenty of math and science courses. There are impressive guest speakers and opportunities to do trips and exchanges to interesting places. Once you get to the classes in your major, the lab projects will be fun and interesting. The Aero department has several wind tunnels and computers for doing computational fluid dynamics. The Astro department builds real satellites that get launched into space. I got to take part in a hacking contest against the NSA and build a swarm of autonomous robots that worked together to solve a puzzle.