When to apply for a nomination?

This may be a basic question, but when should I apply for a congressional nomination? Senior year of highschool, or junior year?


Thanks.

callison said:

This may be a basic question, but when should I apply for a congressional nomination? Senior year of highschool, or junior year?


Thanks.

Click to expand...

This is from my own district and with my own experience, hopefully it will help you with your decisions though.

In 30th Congressional District of CA, only high school seniors are allowed to apply. This can start the summer AFTER JUNIOR YEAR, but for my specific school I couldn't obtain the required information until mid-Fall of SENIOR YEAR. Other than that, I think I read that most congressmen's application deadline is around November of the year you're applying for.

So yeah, senior year for me.

Please contact your MOCs' offices and ASK his/her staff! They are helpful and experienced at this!

My cadet had everything completed and turned in before summer was over and had his first MOC interview in November!

callison said:

This may be a basic question, but when should I apply for a congressional nomination? Senior year of highschool, or junior year?


Thanks.

Click to expand...

Some MOC's have very early required completion dates (like right after Labor Day). You should stage everything with your school resources (guidance counselor, teacher/coach recs, transcript mailing) prior to leaving for the summer at end of your junior year. At the very least, get email addresses for all your teachers, coaches, guidance counselor that those folks can promise they actively check during the summer months so you can send them the links and forms they will need as you get them ready during June/July/August. Trust me from experience that sending to their school email address is a 50/50 bet, since many teachers don't log in during the summer (after all they are on vacation ). If you are aplying to USMA or any other academy, chances are you are a top student and you are someone with whom a teacher or staff member will not mind sharing their gmail or other personal email account address with you.

If you go to a large public school like DS where your guidance counselor has 150+ rising seniors to do things for (like ours) you need to be a squeaky (yet accomodating) wheel, and you need to give LOTS of heads up to what you will need and when. Find out of your GC has been down this road before (had others from your HS apply to academies) since that means they will know generally what you are about to ask of them. If they have not been down the road before, spnd 20 minutes laying out the next year of deadlines that will be coming.

In general, the whole academy application process and nomination process is designed not only to have your credentials reviewed, but to also see if you are one of those people who is at the post office on the last day sending things certified mail because you are a procrastinator or didn't properly prioritize and coordinate. The candidate process is cumbersome and complicated and requires a lot of personal interaction & cajoling and coordination on your part.... which is, IMO, all part of the vetting process to see if you are capable of handling it and pulling it off. It is really never too early to get things rolling -- you will be asking a lot of very busy adults to put your needs at the front of their queue.

Good luck!

My earliest deadline was Sep 10th. I had just met this deadline as my school was finalizing transcripts, even though I had asked for mine early. However I also kept my application for because I wanted to wait to see if I received any more positions for this year. I agree with that last minute post office situation as mentioned, so I didn't send it out on the literal last day.

Definitely contact your respective MOC's staff members. I have found all mine to be extreme helpful.