Hey i was initially going through the AF route. for the AF there are two separate boards technically three but one is for active duty. The boards are rated (flying jobs) and non-rated (ground jobs). The non rated board is extremely competitive and has a low acceptance chance. The rated board has much higher acceptance rates, i think last i checked it was like 65 percent which is pretty good.
Here is the catch though. There are very few officer recruiters across the US and they cherry pick each applicant so while yes the board accepts a good amount, your recruiter will most likely send the best candidates he/she has. That was the case with me, i scored pretty much average and my recruiter just dropped my case and stopped responding to every email. Basically see yeah later and good luck was the last thing he said to me.
Keep in mind the AF also has two different tests that you take and also flying hours count towards one of them and they just recently changed the system to favor more flying hours so if you don't have many hours and score average your score for that will be bottom of the barrel unless you score really well on the first test and second test and you might be good to have average score on that.
Everyone on the airforceots website just keeps talking about the whole "rounded individual" and what ever but most of those dudes who said that are already in or had the one rare applicant with low/average scores that got accepted for OTS. The fact is you need a good gpa and high test scores for the AFOQT so pretty much 80's and 90's. Anything else and your recruiter will most likely drop you instantly unless you got some crazy LOR's or extracurricular stuff or nobody else wants to join. But like i said there are very few recruiters so your recruiter will most likely cover several states so the odds of that happening are pretty much none.
Not to mention the media keeps talking about "fighter pilot shortages" in the AF so you got all these people coming in from the wood works saying things like "it was always my dream to be a fighter pilot" etc etc and these people are close to the age cut off and coming from well established career and making 6 figures easy. Nothing wrong with that of course but it gives you an idea who are you also going up against. the thing is there is no extra demand for junior pilots in the training pipeline only further along.
Anyways, that's my story to you, so pretty much score high if you want a good chance in the AF or any branch for that matter. I applied with AF, Marines, and the Navy. In the end the Navy was my highest score and the ones who kept talking with me so i am sending my package with them.
