The Breakdown: Air Force Academy releases class of ’21 stats

  • Published
  • By Ray Bowden
  • U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – The Air and Space Forces expanded with the commissioning of more than 1,000 newly minted Air and Space Force lieutenants, March 26.  

In all, 1,019 Air Force Academy graduates received their diplomas in a graduation ceremony at Falcon Stadium, with 114 of those graduates commissioning into the Space Force.

The Breakdown
This information is based on data from the Academy’s operations and analysis office released May 25.

-- 1,508 men and women in the Class of 2021 received appointments to the Academy and 1,216 were inducted to the Academy, including 16 international cadets

-- 72.5% of the graduating class are men and 27.5% are women

-- 31.3% of cadets are ethnic minorities and 40.8% are potentially qualitied to become pilots

-- The average high school GPA for the Class of 2021 is 3.85; the average SAT score is 661 evidence based reading and writing, and 673 math; the average ACT score is 30.6 English, 30.8 reading, 29.9 math and 30.5 science reasoning

Scheduled to Graduate
Scheduled to graduate in the Class of 2021 are 1,019 cadets, or 731 men and 288 women, including 15 international cadets from Cameroon, Georgia, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Tunisia.  

-- 290 minorities are in the Class of 2021. Fifty-four are African-American; 102 Hispanic; 58 Asian; seven are Pacific Islanders; four are Native American and 65 are multi-racial, not including international cadets

-- 729 cadets in the Class of 2021 are not minorities

-- 150 Class of 2021 graduates attended the Air Force Academy Preparatory School and 61 graduates were enlisted Airmen

-- The average cumulative GPA for the Class of 2021 is 3.1

-- The attrition rate for the Class of 2021 is 15.5%

-- 65 graduates have brothers or sisters who graduated from the Academy.

-- 58 cadets have one parent who graduated from the Academy and five cadets have two parents who are graduates. Sixty-five cadets are the second child in their family to graduate, 12 cadets are the third child in their family to graduate and two cadets are the fourth child in their family to graduate from the Academy. There are two sets of twins in the Class of 2021. 

Post-Graduation Training
Three hundred ninety-seven graduates are scheduled to attend pilot training; 12 will attend combat systems operator training; nine are slated for air battle manager training; and 38 will become remotely piloted aircraft officers. In all, 456 graduates will enter rated career fields and 419 will enter non-rated career fields.

Service Commitment
Academy graduates incur a five-year service commitment and an additional concurrent service commitment, depending the training, schooling or scholarships they receive. Graduates attending pilot training have an active-duty service commitment of 10 years after receiving their pilot’s wings.

After successfully completing training, combat systems operators, remotely piloted aircraft sensor operators and airborne battle managers incur a six-year commitment. Graduates completing airborne battle manager training incur two concurrent service commitments, the five-year service academy graduate commitment and the six-year airborne battle manager commitment.

Last year, 967 new officers closed-out their four years at the school by hurling their caps into the air at the end of the ceremony on the terrazzo. Eighty-six of those graduates commissioned into the Space Force.

In total, 52,682 men and women have graduated from the Academy. That’s 47,044 men and 6,369 women.