How to improve your chances

[ryleypav]

Study a private pilot general knowledge book for the aviation stuff. As for the math, its all stuff that can be done without a calculator. Just do the AFOQT practice tests really. Sounds like you've done that, so take the material in those, and find videos that teach you tricks to nailing them. For instance, any questions that involve finding percents, move the decimal place to the right one spot, and times by the % value with its decimal moved as well. For example. 3% of 250. 250 is now 25.0 and 35% is now 3.0, which gives you 25x3=75.  Works for any number/percentage. There's tricks like that to mot arithmetic operations.  

[realm]

Interested in a UPT Fighter Slot, Any Advice Much Appreciated

I’m 23 y/o, currently a Medic in the Army Guard with just over a year left on my contract. I graduated university 2 months ago with a B.S. in Cybersecurity and a 3.67 GPA. I’ve been researching the Air Guard UPT and civilian aviation training pipelines for the last couple of weeks. I know the Guard UPT selection process for fighter slots is extremely competitive to say the least, so I’ve been studying like crazy for the AFOQT, which I have scheduled along with the TBAS for late February. I’m also getting things started at a local flight school to begin working toward my PPL, and I have a 3rd Class Flight Physical scheduled in a couple of days as well. I should also note that I have a mild color anomaly, for perspective, I scored a 9/14 on the Ishihara plate test as recently as a year ago. My short-term goal is to get the highest PCSM score I can possibly get to be as competitive as possible. Given that many of the units I’ve looked into so far aren’t allowing potential UPT candidates to rush/visit, I would really appreciate any and all advice to an absolute beginner in the process such as myself to be as competitive as possible, and to maximize chances of being selected for an ANG UPT fighter slot. Please don’t be afraid to destroy my dreams, I need realistic expectations and honest perspectives on what I’ve included in this post above all else. Thank you for everyone’s time.

[theblindace]

I'll make a post of my own when I'm out of the new member waiting pool, but I figure I'll go ahead and post here to get the ball rolling. 

 

I love writing, so I'll go ahead and make my speech: I'm 27 (28 in SEPT) and I've been obsessed with aviation since I was like 10. I first met a recruiter to get ready when I was like 12 and they basically said since I needed glasses I was a no-go. Then I learned LASIK waivers were being approved, so I asked again, then learned I was color vision deficient, which is also a no-go. I only recently found out that now there's a bright, shiny new color vision test I may just be able to pass. I figure I'm late to the party with not much to work with, but I figure a 1% chance is better than the 0% chance I had before. 

 

As far as what I'm going for, my airframe of choice is any sort of fighter jet. The information I've been able to find is pretty inconclusive whether getting picked up for fighters specifically is harder, so I figure I might as well start off shooting for what I really want. Based on my preconceptions I would say I prefer to go for Active Duty since I'm looking for a full-time career and I would assume Active Duty flies more than Guard/Reserve. 

I would appreciate any advice from someone who actually knows what I'm missing or what I haven't thought of. Or, if something I'm thinking of putting work into doesn't actually matter I would appreciate knowing that, too. 

Where I am now-

GPA: 3.0 Bachelor's in Music Performance. You may laugh. 

AFOQT: Not taken yet (see below) but I'm truly terrible at math. As in, I got a D in high school geometry and never even got to trig. 

LOR: None yet, but there are a lot of angles I could work if it would make a difference. 

Extracurriculars/leadership experience: 3 years speech/debate in high school, fencing for 4 years high school, 3 years college, 2 years as president of my college fencing club, 4 years on my fraternity executive committee. 

Flight hours: 0.5. I've taken a discovery flight and I've held off flying more until I can scrape together the cash to get a full PPL. 

Physical: Currently 100 pounds over my weight limit. 

My ideas to improve my chances-

GPA: when I posted on reddit it was recommended to get a second bachelor's or a master's, preferably doing ROTC, to get the GPA back up. I'm not against the possibility, although I would rather spend my money on fitness and flight hours. If I went that route, it depends how the AF measures GPAs, but if they only care about the institution you completed a degree at, the university close to me has a general studies degree I could conceivably knock out in a single semester depending on how many of my transfer credits they accept. My understanding is that ROTC requires pilot applicants to graduate before the age of 29, which is just a non-starter for me. If I could get that waivered up to the regular age or if I really needed to extra credits to weight my GPA higher I would probably go either German, Law, or Computer science. 

In the meantime, the music performance degree is not an academic-focused degree, but focused on playing well, which is reflected in the fact that my major-specific GPA is closer to 3.4-3.8 (I'm still looking for my old transcripts). Is there any way I could get someone important to take that into consideration?

AFOQT: Math A friend of mine is starting her PhD in math at the university 30 minutes away this coming school year, and quite frankly I never tried with math because I assumed I was going to be a professional musician, and trying to reroute my life at the last minute to be a pilot is about the last thing I expected. With a more determined effort I may just be able to get something done. 

 

Physics: another of my gaming buddy majored in engineering, so in the next week or so he and I are going to sit down and he's going to learn me what I got wrong. 

Pilot-specific stuff: My army aviation warrant buddy is super excited I'm trying to get into it. He keeps trying to sell me on the Army, and if the Air Force turns out to be a hard non-starter then I just might go join him, but the point is I actually have a friend personally tutoring me in aviation every night straight from (unclassified) technical manuals. 

LOR: My college violin professor is a pilot, and I know at least one of my high school classmates went USAFA and is a pilot now, so I could try tracking him down for a LOR. I also have a friend who is in the ANG and might be able to get me in touch with some pilots who I might be able to talk into a LOR. One of my gaming buddies is an army aviation warrant, and he's told me a lot of people just seek people out at random and beg for LORs, and I'm down to buy someone a drink for the chance to beg for a LOR. 

Physical: I'm currently not working, and I'm taking advantage of the fact I don't have to worry about functioning at a job to work harder than I could working. I figure my body is a supersized enhancer for calisthenics, so if I can get to even 10 pushups at my current weight I figure when I'm 100 pounds lighter I'll be in great shape. 

 

I'm coming into this with the mindset that I'm not going anywhere fast while I lose 100 pounds, so in the meantime I want to do whatever else I can to make myself more competitive. Conversely, since I'm losing 100 pounds to do this then I want to do everything else I can to make sure the effort is worth it. So anyone who can give insight into what I've missed or what I'm giving undue focus to, I appreciate any advice. Please and thank you.