Following up on what CC said, I realized the unfairness of the impact of the nominations on people. I come from CA, a highly competitive state, along with a REALLY competitive district (some schools include Oxford Academy, Whitney High School - schools that are top 5 NATIONALLY)
I realized that what I wanted to do was serve my country - that was my MAIN goal. Other factors that I needed in colleges was the availability of my major and the possiblity of flight school. WP, Annapolis, and Kings Point are FANTASTIC schools; however they didn't have the majors that I was interested in. USAFA (my dream school since 3rd grade) and USCGA had these three factors. I applied to both, USAFA because it was my dream school and USCGA because it qualified my three terms and did not require a nomination.
At that time, I was freaking out if I were even eligibile to receive a nomination from my district (we had about ~40 people for a nomination slot in AFA) Again, I am from a competitive district. I accepted the fact that I may not receive an appointment letter, let alone a nomination. Therefore, I knew that applying to USCGA was essential because of the chance that I may not even receive a nomination and my application journal would just end there.
In December, I received my nomination to AFA. I was beyond thrilled, I finally had a chance to qualify to become an Air Force cadet at AFA.
In January, I got my acceptance letter from CGA and felt relief because this was my #2 school. If I didn't get accepted into AFA, CGA was the school for me!
After weeks and weeks of contemplation, I had an epiphany. No offense to AFA, but their main focus is combat, which I didn't really like. CGA focuses on humanitarian missions. So would I rather
save a person's life or
kill it? haha, I guess if I were in CGA and were commanded to kill an enemy, I would - but I prefer to save lives
I'm not saying that I'm going to be a disobedient officer and allow enemies to burn/kill America, but if given the choice to avoid situations like that, I would definitely stray away!
CGA looked much more favorable to me after that whole thought process and I was 90% sure that I would commit to CGA.
A week ago, I received my rejection letter from AFA. I did have hopes up because I received a nomination from a competitve district; however, my
competitors probably had a higher score than me. But instead of crying about my TWE, I felt happy. A huge burden for the past...let's see, I applied in September...6 MONTHS was completely gone! And I had my option of attending a Service Academy because I was qualified and picked in the Early Action slot for CGA! This rejection further confirmed my 90% commitment to CGA to a 100% commitment! I am going to be a Coast Guard officer, Class of 2016!
I'm not sure why I dragged on and on about my little journey through college applications. Maybe I'm trying to influence future applicants to apply to CGA in case their nominations may backfire. Maybe not. But for whatever reason, I had this need to share it on the forums.
Good luck to everyone, in whatever you do! Make sure that the college you attend best represents who you are as a person and don't let prestige get to you! If service academies don't work out, try ROTC or even enlist and go towards OCS. If you're on these forums, I'm guessing you desire the military route but if you get rejected from the SA's - don't lose hope, God has a different plan for you to shine in!