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August 2011 Board

egd33

Member
pilot
Contributor
CUPike,
I did not mean to actually scare us, but more that it could add doubts (and anxiety) to some that should not have any reason to worry. I am definitely not accusing you of having that as an intent (you clearly wanted to show those with lesser scores that there is more to it than that), just that as someone who went to a similar school with a gpa just a few 100ths lower that it made me go whoa. However, you did not mention said applicant had 0 extra curriculars/work experience (of which I have a lot), but based on how you mentioned scholarships and the mere fact that they attended Stanford I would normally assume they would have a pretty thorough resume (at the very least from HS to have gotten in to Stanford in the first place). You cleared it up though and it makes more sense now.
 

GreenLantern330

Active Member
CUPike,
I did not mean to actually scare us, but more that it could add doubts (and anxiety) to some that should not have any reason to worry. I am definitely not accusing you of having that as an intent, just that as someone who went to a similar school with a gpa a few 100ths lower that it made me go whoa. However, you did not mention said applicant had 0 extra curriculars/work experience (of which I have a lot), but based on how you mentioned scholarships and the mere fact that they attended Stanford I would normally assume they would have a pretty thorough resume (at the very least from HS to have gotten in to Stanford in the first place). You cleared it up though and it makes more sense now.

There's where you're wrong. Everyone should have doubts or worry to a degree until at least pro-rec. Just because you look like Michael Jordan on paper doesn't mean the board will think you're right for the job.
 

egd33

Member
pilot
Contributor
There's where you're wrong. Everyone should have doubts or worry to a degree until at least pro-rec. Just because you look like Michael Jordan on paper doesn't mean the board will think you're right for the job.

Ok maybe I got carried away with no reason to worry, but what I meant was more that once you have submitted there is nothing else you can do until the board comes back, so it is not worth it to stress yourself too much over it. Of course I constantly think about it and wonder how it is going to go, but adding anything to that is not going to help any (except at losing sleep).
 

Stalin

Well-Known Member
If you don't mind me asking, what do you have that's so impressive for your "whole person concept"? Sports, clubs, volunteering?
I have ups and downs just like everyone else. ASTB and GPA were my strong points, but I went into the boards nervous at people that got mediocre ASTB scores but were sports captains, presidents of fraternities, had congressional LORs, etc. Me personally, I had a good Civil Air Patrol track record, black belt, participate in Honor Guard, just to name a few. My point with whole person concept: yes, my ASTB scores are great, but I know that there are many people that far exceed me in other standards and are better than me overall. I try my best to bring my other areas up but I'm nowhere near perfect.
YOU can have a better package than me without my ASTB scores, I promise. If you volunteer, seek out great LORs, get active at your college, play a sport, do well at your job, fly some if you want to be a pilot, study diligently in school, take hours or even days to write a killer motivational statement, get that professionally edited (one grammar mistake on that goes a long way), have a great PT routine, and many other things, you can get selected with a 6/6/6/47 or whatever. It is no secret how to get a pro-rec. Do all I said above and I guarantee you'll get a pro-rec. I hope this helps and you take it to heart. I spoke to many people on this board who wouldn't do X or Y because it was "too much work..." they do not get a pro-rec, they do not try 200%, and they don't want this as badly as everyone else that goes the extra 10 miles to make their package just a tiny bit better. Like I said, I did it, I got what I wanted from this forum, now I'm here to try and help yall.
 

GreenLantern330

Active Member
Speaking of all these ECs... I just looked at my app again and saw that they only have 2 slots to list for your ECs... did everyone else just mention the rest of them in your moto statements or is there anywhere else to continue listing them out... I just mentioned a few extra ones on the moto statement but I still have more I could list out.
 

shutout39

Member
pilot
I just asked this question in another section, no one has replied yet. I guess with the stress of waiting and reading that there are 100 or so spots, my mind gets to wondering what is or isn't going to get me one of them effers. I put all that extra stuff in the Applicant Remarks box (#15). I'm pretty sure that is what my recruiter told me to do. I also referenced a couple ECs in my moto as well as I am sure everyone does in one way or another.
 

GreenLantern330

Active Member
I just asked this question in another section, no one has replied yet. I guess with the stress of waiting and reading that there are 100 or so spots, my mind gets to wondering what is or isn't going to get me one of them effers. I put all that extra stuff in the Applicant Remarks box (#15). I'm pretty sure that is what my recruiter told me to do. I also referenced a couple ECs in my moto as well as I am sure everyone does in one way or another.

Wow... I didn't even notice box #15 when I first filled it out.. guess that's what I get for doing it in the middle of the night lol
 

fattestfoot

In it for the naked volleyball
You people are going to be neurotic in flight school.

I'm not sure how many times I've posted it, but only worry about the things you can control. Someone else's application is not something you can control. Everyone here knows where their weak points are. You've got a minimum of 6 months to fix those deficiencies if you don't get selected (and outside of an ASTB retake, I'm not sure how many major changes you can make in under 6 months). Worrying about how you stack up is just wasted energy and stress you don't need. Put forth your best application and drive on.
 

Stalin

Well-Known Member
I never thought about box 15... I'd give it a shot! It can't hurt. Anyway to improve your application, do it! My guess is they only have 2 boxes because they can pretty much gauge how awesome you are by it, or maybe EC #3, 4, and 5 usually turned out to be BS garbage, who knows. Another tip I heard is on the motivational statement... they were wondering if they should fill up the whole page or go by 400 words. I heard it was better to NOT fill up the page and get straight to the point (not have a bunch of fluff.) That is just a guess, but it makes sense. Sometimes, a short and condensed MS is better than a lengthy one
 

GreenLantern330

Active Member
I never thought about box 15... I'd give it a shot! It can't hurt. Anyway to improve your application, do it! My guess is they only have 2 boxes because they can pretty much gauge how awesome you are by it, or maybe EC #3, 4, and 5 usually turned out to be BS garbage, who knows. Another tip I heard is on the motivational statement... they were wondering if they should fill up the whole page or go by 400 words. I heard it was better to NOT fill up the page and get straight to the point (not have a bunch of fluff.) That is just a guess, but it makes sense. Sometimes, a short and condensed MS is better than a lengthy one

That's what I did. I kept at 400 words. I figured they read the same cliche patriotic bullcrap over and over again in over a hundred packages so why make it any longer when most of it is fluff? Just get to the point and end it.
 
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