I'm Competing for an Appointment from within my Nomination Sources?

Hopeful MDN

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As many of you may know, I am scholastically qualified to USNA Class of 2014. I called the Academy and they said approximately 2000 students are found triple qualified with a nomination. They said students who were found scholastically qualified will competing for an appointment from within my nomination sources. What exactly does this mean?
 
As many of you may know, I am scholastically qualified to USNA Class of 2014. I called the Academy and they said approximately 2000 students are found triple qualified with a nomination. They said students who were found scholastically qualified will competing for an appointment from within my nomination sources. What exactly does this mean?

Hi,

Generally, you will need a nomination from a member of congress (your congressional rep or state senator) or other source if you meet the requirements to apply for that type of nomination. See link below to USNA website for descriptions of Presidential, Vice President and other nominations to see if you qualify.

http://www.usna.edu/Admissions/steps4.htm

Good luck to you.

GoNavyMom
 
Yes, I do understand that, but does that just mean I just need to receive a nomination and that part of the application is complete? Or is there more to it after I receive the nomination?
 
They said students who were found scholastically qualified will competing for an appointment from within my nomination sources. What exactly does this mean?

My understanding is that, if your nomination source is your congressman, you will be competing against all candidates from that congressional district for his/her nomination. Typically 10 candidates receive a nomination per congressman and, if you are one of the 10, you compete against the other 9 for the appointment. Usually there is only 1 appointment per congressman. However, sometimes there may be 2 or more, depending on how well the congressional district is represented at the particular academy (max 5 at a time).

Hope I explained the well. If not, I'm sure someone else will clarify.
 
Yes, I do understand that, but does that just mean I just need to receive a nomination and that part of the application is complete? Or is there more to it after I receive the nomination?

Please correct me if I am wrong....

You've applied to 3 members of congress (MOC) - senators included- for the nomination, the VP and possibly the President. So that gives you up to 5 sources of nominations.
Pres and VP are more rare, so I'll stick to the congressional nominations.

More than likely, each MOC sends a slate of 10 people that they nominate. If you are one of the 10 on this slate you have received a nomination. But what happens is that those 10 candidates have a whole person score...or are ranked ... by the academy. The number #1 candidate, if he/she is qualified, he/she will get the appointment. If that appointee accepts, then you do not get an appointment, even though you got a nomination. If that person is not qualified or if he/she declines then he/she will not get the appointment and the academy goes to the 2nd ranked person on that list of 10...

If you are fortunate enough to get on all 3 lists then you have three chances to get to the top of the list.

Another scenario is that the MOC sends a ranked list to the academy. Candidates are ranked #1-#10 OR they rank a #1 candidate and then leave the 2-9 rankings up to the academy. If you are ranked #1 on MOC list, then the academy must appoint you if you are qualified. Even if someone is higher than you on the whole person score that the academy assigns to your file. Then the qualified appointee either accepts or rejects and the academy will move down the list if needed.

Rumor has it that if you get a nomination, yet do no get an appointment, continue to show interest, because alot of things happen between now and June. people get hurt, change their mind...and also nominations from some MOC go unused.

I believe that this is what the academy means by 'competing' within your nomination source'.
 
Hopeful MDN: After you receive a nomination, you will compete for an appointment. Not all who receive nominations receive appointments.

Your Senators and Representatives may nominate ten individuals for each slot open at the academies. Each Senator and Rep may have five people at each academy at any one time. Assuming that they get one in each year, some years they may have two slots open, usually one.

If you receive a nom from one of these sources, you will then be in competition for one of those slots. Other nomination sources, the VP, President, Sec Navy, and Superintendent, are similar. For example, every applicant who qualifies will receive a Presidential nomination. 100 of those will receive an appointment charged to the Presidential nomination source.

Now, before you get discouraged, realize it is possible for more than one kiddo on Senator XX's slate of ten nominees to receive an appointement. One, or more, may get a presidential nom and get charged to that slate, one or more, may get a ROTC nom, etc. It is not uncommon for several on a MOC's slate to receive appointments.

That said, as you were told, approximately 2000 applicants are triple Q'd and have a nomination. The class of 2013 had 1250 +/- take the oath on I-Day. You do the math, something like 62.5% of those triple Q'd with a nomination will receive appointments.

That is why all applicants need to get the very best SAT/ACT scores, CFA Scores, etc that they can. And why I repeatedly recommend applicants retake these exams. You see it on here all the time, "My scores are XXX, should I retake the SAT? Or is XXX 'good enough?'" And the answer is always "It depends. Depends upon how tough the competition is. How bad do you want an appointment?"

Make sure your application packet is the strongest possible. What is 'good enough' in one area, well, that may not be quite 'good enough' in another area! It always depends on the competition. And at the end of the day, you cannot control anything but the strength of your own application!
 
Thank you. That helps a lot. Does that mean I have a higher chance of getting placed at number 1 on the list because I am scholastically qualified already?
 
Of the 10 people on the nominating slate, I would guess that all 10 are just as scholastically qualified. I doubt a MOC will put a nomination forward that would not be competitve and qualified. But it could happen.

You are competing against others on all areas....academic, leadership, fitness, etc etc etc. The whole person score.

One thing you could ask your MOC is if they put up a slate that is ranked #1-10 or just 10 names with no ranks.
 
Correct, singapore Mom: Only one caveat......an applicant cannot get an appointment from a MOC whose slot went unused.........you must live in the Congressional District or State where you get the nomination. If Congressman XX doesn't nominate anybody or there is no one on their slate who is qualifed, an applicant from another Congressional District CANNOT have that spot.

If an applicant does not receive an appointment by April when most have gone out, they may be placed on a "wait list." If a significant number of those offered appointments decline, or others within the applicant's nonination source decline, spots may open up. I think USNA has it down to a science however. They know how many offers to extend to get the 1200 +/- that they want to see on I-Day. So, there is not a great deal of hope for those on the wait list. But it does happen. If, however, an applicant receives a letter informing them that they are not going to be offered an appointment (TWE: thin white envelope), then it is over for that applicant for this cycle.

If an applicant really wants in, they may contact Admissions and ask what they can do to strengthen their application and try again the following application cycle. My son had decided last fall that if he was not offered an appointment, this was going to be his course of action. I think that helped him with the waiting. Knowing exactly what he was going to do if the TWE arrived in our mailbox!
 
Agree again Singapore Mom: Most are likely scholastically qualified. Your Whole Candidate Score is how the slate will be judged. Not to be totally redundant, but that is exactly why candidates must focus on getting all of the points they can!
 
Wow, I didn't know that it was that hard to actually get a nomination and an appointment.
 
"What if I receive a nomination from one of my state Senators?"

Just to be clear Hopeful MDN: You can get a nomination from one of your two state's senators. Not the state senators who serve in the state Senate.

Same deal, you compete for an appointment with the others on their slates of nominees. I cannot imagine any Senator without ten nominees on his slate. Reps may not have ten in their district, but most Senators will have many more than ten apply. Upwards of 400 here in Texas.
 
Where are you from Hopeful MDN?

Note to the moderators: This thread and conversation this evening makes me miss the old chat room!
 
Ok, well I guess all I can do is hope for the best if I get my nomination, seeing that I have everything else in the process completed.
 
Search this and the College Confidential forum for "underrepresented districts." Someone had a list of those last year.
 
okay i will, and i don't think I'm from an incredibly competitive district.
 
I found the post I read last spring. This was from March 2009. Now, remember, this list may have changed.......it is, as the legal experts say, "heresay...."


From a briefing to Blue and Gold Officers earlier this year. The following is a list of Under-represented districts at USNA. I do not know what criteria they used to make this determination:

New York – 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,17
Pennsylvania – 1, 2
Ohio – 3, 5
Rhode Island – 2
New Jersey – 9, 10, 13
Massachusets – 8
Florida – 2, 3, 12, 17, 23
Georgia – 2, 5, 12, 13
North Carolina – 1, 8, 12
Virginia – 3
South Carolina – 5, 6
Illinois – 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 17
Michigan – 5, 10, 12, 14
Texas – 13, 18, 28, 29
Wisconsin – 4, 7
Kentucky – 1
Tennessee – 9
Alabama – 2, 3, 4, 7
Indiana – 7
Louisiana – 2, 3, 5
Iowa – 2
Mississippi – 2
Nebraska – 3
California – 5, 7, 8, 9, 13, 20, 21, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 43
North Dakota – 1
Oklahoma – 2
Arizona – 4, 7
Minnesota – 7
 
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