United States Service Academy Admissions: Selecting for Success at the Air Force Academy and as an Officer

Chaitra M. Hardison ; Susan Burkhauser ; Lawrence M. Hanser

RAND Corporation

RAND Corporation

关键词: Alumni;    Educational Institutions;    Students;    Faculty;    Postsecondary Education Programs;    Military Officers;    Military Education and Training;    United States Air Force;   

DOI  :  10.7249/RR744
ISBN  :  9780833091826
RP-ID  :  RR-744-OSD

学科分类：自然科学（综合）

美国|英语

来源: RAND Corporation Published Research

【 摘 要 】

This report examines admission standards at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) and officer outcomes to evaluate whether the USAFA admissions formula should be adjusted. USAFA admissions are partly determined based on scores calculated as a weighted combination of three elements: academic composite, leadership composite, and selection panel score. The authors explored relationships between various admissions factors (SAT/ACT composite scores, high school rank divided by class size, selection composite score, leadership composite score, academic composite score, and selection panel score) and USAFA and officer outcomes (grade point average; failure to graduate for academic reasons; failure to graduate because of a desire for a career change; military performance average; overall performance average; and promotion to O-4, O-5, and O-6). The data included records on the nearly 35,000 cadets who attended USAFA from 1980 to 2011 from three Air Force data sources: USAFA registrar admissions records, USAFA cadet records, and Air Force personnel records. Recommendations include removing the selection panel score from the selection composite formula, collecting additional information on applicants, and improving data retention and maintenance.