Scrutinize me as much as possible so I can improve!

[AlwaysUp96]

Hey All,

Long time lurker but first time poster on the forum. I'm looking to get advice on improving my chances, study materials, and anything you wonderful people could maybe offer for someone in my position! 

My Background:

Occupation: Full time student (Senior Undergraduate in Mathematics) / Part time data scientist

GPA: 3.4

Current Work experience: Formal Math research, 2 x internships in data science, 1 current part time position in data science, 1 job offer to be a full time data scientist post graduation

General experience: 1 year in ROTC where I was top 1/3 of my class. Medically DQ'ed because of medicine I was taking my freshman year of college. I'm cleared now!

Leadership: Leader of the aviation club here on campus, Leader of a multicultural club on campus, and also an officer in a finance club on campus.

Volunteer: Volunteered with habitat for humanity, Friends of Trees, Red Cross, and Kaiser Permanente [However I don't have any consistent volunteer hours with any one organization]

AFOQT: I believe I got in the 60s for Pilot and Nav for my first AFOQT. I'm definitely going to retake this and would like some advice on studying!

PPL: Currently working on it and want to be done by march but have to pay for this and school so it's a little hard to balance funds.

 

Aiming for April Board date and also open to the ANG / Reserves. Also note I am open to anything fixed wing and just want to fly anything in the Air Force!

 

My first few questions are is my GPA to low to be competitive? Is it bad I don't consistently volunteer with an organization? How many flight hours should I aim for? What are some study materials I can use for the AFOQT that I plan on taking next year? What can I do to improve? Please be as brutal and honest as possible. I want to do every single thing I can to improve my chances when the April board comes up! Thanks for all your help!

 

[GDAL]

GPA is competitive + STEM degree. You're good there, just don't let it fall. No, your volunteer stats are sufficient. You should aim to get a PPL at the very least and as many hours as financially possible. If you can afford to keep flying after PPL, get your instrument rating. So that's the good.

Your AFOQT is sub par. Find a highly rated AFOQT study book on Amazon. Shouldn't be too hard, you're a data scientist, no? Formulate a study plan, take the test over and over again. Timed. However, I wouldn't take the AFOQT until after you take your PPL written. It will help your pilot score tremendously. And then take the TBAS.

I'm not even going to comment as to why you'd consider active duty over ANG / AFRES. To each their own, but who wouldn't want to be able to pick their airframe and their base?

[AlwaysUp96]

16 hours ago, GDAL said:

GPA is competitive + STEM degree. You're good there, just don't let it fall. No, your volunteer stats are sufficient. You should aim to get a PPL at the very least and as many hours as financially possible. If you can afford to keep flying after PPL, get your instrument rating. So that's the good.

Your AFOQT is sub par. Find a highly rated AFOQT study book on Amazon. Shouldn't be too hard, you're a data scientist, no? Formulate a study plan, take the test over and over again. Timed. However, I wouldn't take the AFOQT until after you take your PPL written. It will help your pilot score tremendously. And then take the TBAS.

I'm not even going to comment as to why you'd consider active duty over ANG / AFRES. To each their own, but who wouldn't want to be able to pick their airframe and their base?

Thanks for the response GDAL!

Definitely already setup my plans for a PPL. Would you say an online ground school is sufficient for the AFOQT or is the general consensus that an in person ground school is better overall? 

Would love to fly for the guard or reserve but I honestly want to fly more than anything. Is AD that poor of a gig over the ANG / AFRES?

[HU&W]

Ground school's not adequate prep.  Good advice is AFOQT-specific book and timed practice tests.

[GDAL]

1 hour ago, AlwaysUp96 said:

Thanks for the response GDAL!

Definitely already setup my plans for a PPL. Would you say an online ground school is sufficient for the AFOQT or is the general consensus that an in person ground school is better overall? 

Would love to fly for the guard or reserve but I honestly want to fly more than anything. Is AD that poor of a gig over the ANG / AFRES?

Again, you need to finish your PPL and actually STUDY AFOQT prep books. Then retake the test.

I'm not bashing on AD, it's all about lifestyle choices. But the general consensus is that ANG/AFRES > AD. You need to ask yourself what you want out of life. Would you like to have a full time commitment of 10 years in AD taking whatever is thrown at you (could be awesome, could be...not), or would you rather keep some semblance of a normal life and fly for the guard/reserve? The only catch is that you will need to be employable in the civilian world for most guard/reserve jobs, since they are typically part time after seasoning.

Edited November 16, 2017 by GDAL

[AlwaysUp96]

Thank you both for the advice! I've actually just gotten off the phone with a flight school and will be aiming to finish up my PPL by mid February just in time for some ANG boards! 

On a side note my recruiter is always super busy and appointments need to be made at least a month in advance with him and thats after a few emails. Is there anything I should get cleared up ASAP? Seems like a fantastic guy whose just got way to many people to work with!

[va121mir]

@AlwaysUp96 have you taken the TBAS? Also how old are you (i would guess around 20-22 considering that you are still in college)?  Keep in mind that you can only take the AFOQT twice (3 with a waiver) in your life time.  Def retake is after doing some serious studying, its really not that hard.   Same with the TBAS, I took it twice, once without any prep, then a few years later with a bunch of prep and killed it. You are in a stem field, so i assume you do some programming. I wrote a TBAS simulator (for the joystick part) in a few hours and it significantly helped my score - feel free to message me for details. 

Anyway here are my two main points:

1.If you are young then you have plenty of time so figure out what you want to do (fighters or cargo) and go for it. 

2. The reserves provides an option for you to go to UPT unsponsored. If you go this route you will be tracked to T-1 and then cargo but you can get picked up by a fighter unit and that will land you in T-38s.  So before applying AD and possibly ending up as an ABM (not that there is anything wrong with that) consider all your options and do not be afraid to work for and wait for what you want.

 

Edited June 25, 2018 by va121mir