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Thinking ahead (selection for pilot training)
- Thread starter IronMike
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Elder
US Coast Guard C-130 Demonstration Team
One other thing.. if you are wanting to go to a service Academy, you'll have to be nominated by your State's U.S. Senators, a State U.S. Rep, and the Vice President of the United States - and maybe the President? Think it's on the web sites.
I *THINK* this usually starts around your Junior year, or probably after your Junior year, before you start your Senior year is probably the best time.
You need to visit the service Acadamey's web site(s) and see what the requirements are.
You have to contact those people early so they can "evaluate" your process.
http://www.usna.edu/Admissions/steps.htm
http://academyadmissions.com/admissions/
http://www.cga.edu/admissions/admissions.htm
Pretty sure the Coast Guard still doesn't require nominations for admissions. However, nomination or not, Coasties can't go to flight school straight out of the Academy either. You must do at least 1 yr to 18 months aboard a ship first. But, usually all those that apply eventually get in unless they give up applying or no longer qualified. And a year or so aboard a ship ain't bad. It's not like we deploy for 6 months.
Also, get that GPA up, move up in class ranking (you will with a higher GPA), participate in activities, student body government, sports, ROTC, academic clubs, volunteer at local Red Cross or Senior Citizen home - something - anything and everything. Take a look at the applications now, see the kinds of things they're looking for.. then work towards those.
Start studying and taking the SAT as soon as possible. Also, if you don't do great on the SAT, take the ACT instead. I've heard people who had trouble with SAT did better on ACT. Don't stop taking them. Work towards improving your score. You need a rather high score to be accepted. Selection is VERY competitive.
Everything counts in large amounts.
Good luck!
I *THINK* this usually starts around your Junior year, or probably after your Junior year, before you start your Senior year is probably the best time.
You need to visit the service Acadamey's web site(s) and see what the requirements are.
You have to contact those people early so they can "evaluate" your process.
http://www.usna.edu/Admissions/steps.htm
http://academyadmissions.com/admissions/
http://www.cga.edu/admissions/admissions.htm
Pretty sure the Coast Guard still doesn't require nominations for admissions. However, nomination or not, Coasties can't go to flight school straight out of the Academy either. You must do at least 1 yr to 18 months aboard a ship first. But, usually all those that apply eventually get in unless they give up applying or no longer qualified. And a year or so aboard a ship ain't bad. It's not like we deploy for 6 months.
Also, get that GPA up, move up in class ranking (you will with a higher GPA), participate in activities, student body government, sports, ROTC, academic clubs, volunteer at local Red Cross or Senior Citizen home - something - anything and everything. Take a look at the applications now, see the kinds of things they're looking for.. then work towards those.
Start studying and taking the SAT as soon as possible. Also, if you don't do great on the SAT, take the ACT instead. I've heard people who had trouble with SAT did better on ACT. Don't stop taking them. Work towards improving your score. You need a rather high score to be accepted. Selection is VERY competitive.
Everything counts in large amounts.
Good luck!
I remember in college I bought a pair of naval aviator wings and put them on my desk or carried them with me when I studied else where. The idea was to remind me what I wanted and where I wanted to go. In flight school, I printed out some wings of gold and taped it to my bathroom mirror so every morning I saw them. It was a simple motivation tool.
thank you for giving me that advice. It all helps so much. Thats a good idea, im going to get that motivation thing going. My last question is, and isnt that important because I am going to try as hard as I can anyway, but does any one look at high school grades for selection into pilot training, or is it just your college GPA?
Elder
US Coast Guard C-130 Demonstration Team
I can't speak for the Navy, but I don't think the Coast Guard looks at any GPA when considering your application for flight school - I could be wrong.
Say, for instance, you go to a civilian college, join the Coast Guard and go to OCS.. if you apply for flight school while in OCS, your Platoon and Staff Officer's give a thumbs up or thumbs down recommendation to all the applicants, and then probably provide their class standing to the selection panel.. ie if 5 people are applying, and they can only take 4, the top 4 that get recommended go. They might also look at your civilian college history, as they will have a copy of your college transcript you provided when you signed the contract to join.
If you're an Academy graduate, out in the field on a ship, the panel will look at your Commanding Officer's recommendation as well as your Officer's Evaluation Reports (OER (like a FITREP), and make a decision based off all that.
For instance, when I applied, I already had almost 8 OER's for them to look at. They were able to see I was a performer, well, at least my bosses thought I was.. well, at least I told my bosses I was (I had to write my own, the could change/agree as they saw fit).
Good luck!
Say, for instance, you go to a civilian college, join the Coast Guard and go to OCS.. if you apply for flight school while in OCS, your Platoon and Staff Officer's give a thumbs up or thumbs down recommendation to all the applicants, and then probably provide their class standing to the selection panel.. ie if 5 people are applying, and they can only take 4, the top 4 that get recommended go. They might also look at your civilian college history, as they will have a copy of your college transcript you provided when you signed the contract to join.
If you're an Academy graduate, out in the field on a ship, the panel will look at your Commanding Officer's recommendation as well as your Officer's Evaluation Reports (OER (like a FITREP), and make a decision based off all that.
For instance, when I applied, I already had almost 8 OER's for them to look at. They were able to see I was a performer, well, at least my bosses thought I was.. well, at least I told my bosses I was (I had to write my own, the could change/agree as they saw fit).
Good luck!
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