Pilot Hopeful - What are my chances?

[two]

Hi All, 

I am submitting my application for the next rated Air Force board. Let me know what you think of my chances of being selected. See the basic stats below: 

26 yo Male

Bachelors in International Business & Economics -3.77 GPA

AFOQT - P 87  | N 95 | AA 82 | V 92 | Q 63

Flight Hours - 7.2 (Hoping to get a few more before the board meets, and will definitely have my PPL before OTS)

PCSM - 52

Currently manage a team of 6 Financial Analysts at a big bank, worked my way up from an entry level role to a manager in 3 yrs. Played Soccer, Track, and Lacrosse in High School. I also played Division 1 Club Rugby all through college. Eagle Scout, and was a Section Leader within my HS marching band. Was awarded a huge scholarship, was on the deans list every semester, and graduated early from college. Have volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, and several local charity races over the last few years. Only a speeding ticket, and seat belt violation on my 'criminal' record. 

Overall, I think I bring a ton of leadership experience to the table, a strong academic record, and a variety of extracurricular activities. One of my main concerns is with my Quantitative Score on the AFOQT, which also factors into the Pilot Score. My own fault, I ended up running out of time on the test and had to make several guesses. 

Thanks for the feedback!

[HiFlyer]

The board's package valuation process is far too complicated to make any estimates based on the data provided (yours or anybody's).  Much of the package score is based on "subjective" factors rater than simply test scores.  Additionally, selection likelihood is heavily based on the number of applicants vs. the slots available.  Technically, if 500 applied and there were 500 slots, everyone would be a select.  On the other hand, everything else being the same, if there were only 100 slots, only the top 100 would be selects.

Based on the info you provided, nothing there will hurt you, and most of it is pretty strong.  Remember that those numbers are percentiles, not raw scores. Even your lowest score, the 63 on the quantitative section, is still "better than 63% of other test takers" (not a 63 on the actual test) , so nearly the top third, and the current PCSM is in the top half, too.

Finally, for selection, only your flying when the board meets counts for anything, so "will definitely have my PPL before OTS" doesn't contribute to your selection, although ultimately all flying contributes to your ability to succeed in UPT. Try to get above 10.0 hours of flying to pick up the next increment of PCSM points.

Edited November 25, 2015 by HiFlyer

[two]

The board's package valuation process is far to complicated to make any estimates based on the data provided (yours or anybody's).  Much of the package score is based on "subjective" factors rater than simply test scores.  Additionally, selection likelihood is heavily based on the number of applicants vs. the slots available.  Technically, if 500 applied and there were 500 slots, everyone would be a select.  On the other hand, everything else being the same, if there were only 100 slots, only the top 100 would be selects.

Based on the info you provided, nothing there will hurt you, and most of it is pretty strong.  Remember that those numbers are percentiles, not raw scores. Even your lowest score, the 63 on the quantitative section, is still "better than 63% of other test takers" (not a 63 on the actual test) , so nearly the top third, and the current PCSM is in the top half, too.

Finally, for selection, only your flying when the board meets counts for anything, so "will definitely have my PPL before OTS" doesn't contribute to your selection, although ultimately all flying contributes to your ability to succeed in UPT. Try to get above 10.0 hours of flying to pick up the next increment of PCSM points.

Great feedback and advice! Thank you

[matmacwc]

I'd say pretty strong resume, the band thing will travel far TDY as well.

[argo]

AFPC just told me they received 200 applicants for the 2016 UFT AD board--Pentagon has yet to tell them how many of the 200 to take. Board meets 25-28 Jan 2016...good luck to everyone!

[two]

Good information! Is there any way to tell when the Pentagon announces how many slots will need to be filled, or is that non-public information?

[argo]

Good information! Is there any way to tell when the Pentagon announces how many slots will need to be filled, or is that non-public information?

I don't think it's announced on mypers or anything--they also probably wont tell AFPC until it gets closer to when the board meets

[Flyingforce]

When you say 200 applicants for the UFT AD board, are you referring to the OTS UFT boards? From what I was told, OTS has separate boards then applicants cross-training from AD. Is this what you are referring to? 

Edited December 1, 2015 by Flyingforce

[argo]

this is the active duty guys applying for a slot (non 11X AFSCs trying to cross train)--not sure of the numbers for the OTS/ANG/AFR boards.

[BFM this]

Guard.

[Flyingforce]

I was told by a major who has been on the boards, that in a year they normally only get 40 applicants that want to cross train over. But, that might just be the ones that are pilot eligible. That's why 200 seems like a lot! 

[Jeepers21]

On 11/25/2015 at 2:22 PM, HiFlyer said:

Finally, for selection, only your flying when the board meets counts for anything, so "will definitely have my PPL before OTS" doesn't contribute to your selection, although ultimately all flying contributes to your ability to succeed in UPT. Try to get above 10.0 hours of flying to pick up the next increment of PCSM points.

Hit it right on the head here. Hop on the AFOQT scoring website and see what kind of PCSM you will have with increased flying experience (it goes up in tiers, ie. above 10 hours, above 50 hours, etc.). Also, if you dont think you can get any more hours in prior to submitting your package to the board, you could always try and take the AFOQT again (i know this sucks) to bring up your Quantitative score.

From my experience, the PCSM is what counts the most and this is greatly affected by how many flying hours you have.

Edited December 30, 2015 by Jeepers21

[argo]

14 hours ago, Jeepers21 said:

Hit it right on the head here. Hop on the AFOQT scoring website and see what kind of PCSM you will have with increased flying experience (it goes up in tiers, ie. above 10 hours, above 50 hours, etc.). Also, if you dont think you can get any more hours in prior to submitting your package to the board, you could always try and take the AFOQT again (i know this sucks) to bring up your Quantitative score.

From my experience, the PCSM is what counts the most and this is greatly affected by how many flying hours you have.

I also heard this too...from a LtCol who was on the selection board for the 2015 class; they looked at whether or not you had a PPC and a PCSM of 90+. Of course that's not to say that if you didn't hit those scores you wouldn't be selected, but if you had a PPC and PCSM 90+ you had a very good chance. This is assuming you got a good letter of rec and did well in your current job etc. (which was pretty much the baseline for all applicants) so PPC and PCSM became the discriminator

[Idontknownanything]

PPC? PPL?

[argo]

Private Pilot's Certificate / Private Pilot's License

[two]

Thanks for the information guys. I have been focusing on getting the flying hours up to grab the next batch of points. Should at least be in the next tier by the time the selection board meets. My PCSM is only projected to jump up to 57 w/ 11hrs or more, this is realistically what I think my PCSM will be for this board.

Luckily, I'm only 26 and should have ample time to submit to at least one more board without having to worry about being age critical (if not selected this round). Thanks for all of the good advice, if not selected I'll definitely complete my PPC/PPL, and work on improving my AFOQT score a bit.

Edited January 4, 2016 by esquires

[argo]

If you haven't done so already; try retaking the TBAS, you're allowed two tests in a lifetime...unless you tested twice in the older format (prior to ~2013), they let you take it once more on the new format.

[two]

I believe you have to wait 6 months to retake the TBAS (same as the AFOQT).

Unfortunately, I won't be able to re-take it before the board meets . Hopefully, I've submitted a solid enough 'Whole Person' package and get selected. If not, will definitely be retaking both the TBAS and AFOQT.