Lost chances for additional nominations

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ironcamper

5-Year Member
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Nov 19, 2009
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Have been reading posts on this forum and gaining a tremendous amount of insight. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge. Understanding the complexity of the admissions process to the USNA and maintaining a patient attitude, I do have one question to ask of this forum community. Many threads address LOA's, nominations, and need to pursue all nomination sources. My daughter received an LOA contingent on a nomination in October, received a competitive nomination from our Senator the third week of November, and then received notification from other Senator and Congressman that her interviews were canceled as she already had a nomination and they would not duplicate the nomination on their slates. She had also applied for VP nomination. Since this is not a principal nomination and we are from a competitive area, it seems a shame that she did not have the opportunity to compete for additional nominations. I guess the MOC's definitely communicate with one another around here. Are we in for a long wait?
 
I have wondered the same sort of thing. I am guessing it would be possible to get three nominations (one from each of your MOC), but if you are competing for an appointment for each one and you are ranked #10 of 10 on each slate, then you are most likely SOL....right?
 
ironcamper said:
My daughter received an LOA contingent on a nomination in October, received a competitive nomination from our Senator the third week of November...
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With an LOA and a nomination, it sounds to me like she is in and really only awaiting the formality of the appointment. Isn't that correct?
 
With an LOA and a nomination (of any sort) she will get an appointment. Typically, the appointments coming from LOAs are sent out fairly quickly. The SA does not wait for the rest of the slate to complete their apps because they know that you have met the conditions of the LOA. You will likely see your appointment fairly quickly - however, with the holidays upon us, it could be after the new year.
 
If there are at least a handful of applicants with LOA's from the state, it would seem that having more than one nomination would have been helpful for the Academy to be able to have more flexibility in applying nominations to appointees. I still am optimistic about her liklihood of acceptance but am I correct in assuming that with only one nomination she may have to wait longer to see how the Academy arranges all the puzzle pieces with other LOA's from the state. The interesting thing is: If the senator submitted a slate of ten, and five or so had LOA's; and all were denied additional MOC nominations due to their position of not wanting to duplicate slates; it seems like even a LOA and nomination doesn't ensure that an appointment will be granted any earlier than someone without an LOA due to the difficult task of assigning a nomination to multiple applicants with only one nomination from the same MOC.

Thank you 2011Mom. You posted while I was pondering the above note. Not having to wait for the rest of the slate to finish application process is comforting.
 
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I received an LOA in September and I was just notified a week ago that I received a nomination from my congressman. Just this past week, I received a letter from one of my senators stating that since I had already received a nomination from another source, that he was unable to nominate me in order to avoid duplicate nominations.

Then, just 2 days, my congressman personally called me to congratulate me on my appointment to USNA and told me that my appointment envelope was in the mail.

With an LOA and a nomination, it sounds to me like she is in and really only awaiting the formality of the appointment. Isn't that correct?
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Yes, this is correct. Your daughter's LOA was only contigent upon a nomination - She received the nomination.
LOA + 1 Nomination = Appointment
Congrats!!
 
ironcamper said:
If there are at least a handful of applicants with LOA's from the state, it would seem that having more than one nomination would have been helpful for the Academy to be able to have more flexibility in applying nominations to appointees. I still am optimistic about her liklihood of acceptance but am I correct in assuming that with only one nomination she may have to wait longer to see how the Academy arranges all the puzzle pieces with other LOA's from the state. The interesting thing is: If the senator submitted a slate of ten, and five or so had LOA's; and all were denied additional MOC nominations due to their position of not wanting to duplicate slates; it seems like even a LOA and nomination doesn't ensure that an appointment will be granted any earlier than someone without an LOA due to the difficult task of assigning a nomination to multiple applicants with only one nomination from the same MOC.
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It is my understanding that candidates with a LOA do not count towards the MOC's limit. For example, if Senator X nominates 10 candidates, 6 of whom have LOA's, 7 of them can be offered appointment, but only one counts against the Senator.
 
Knarf said:
With an LOA and a nomination, it sounds to me like she is in and really only awaiting the formality of the appointment. Isn't that correct?
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This is the way I understand it as well. An LOA and ANY nom, principal or competitive/alternate is all you need.
 
LOA + any nomination = appointmemt (given that is all that the LOA was contingent upon....of course must fulfill other requirements as well). But do not need more nominations.

As for slates with multiple LOA's on them............that cannot be too much of a problem. There are 100 Senators, 435 Congressman. 535 slates. USNA doles out LOA's very sparingly, maybe 150 of them this year. So, just doing the math, one can easily conclude that there are not many slates with multiple LOA's. Highly competitive districts with outstanding schools and a strong academy recruiting program and heritage, yes, probably happens.
 
jennyp's formula is correct and the same way I understand it. It does NOT have to be a principle nom.
 
I was under the impression that it is not a 100% ironclad guarantee that if you have a nomination and an LOA that you will get an appointment....:confused:
 
Yes, it is guaranteed that if you receive both an LOA and a nomination, you will then receive an appointment (if the LOA is contigent only upon receiving a nomination).
 
My son's Naval Academy LOA says "You are guaranteed an offer of appointment if your remaining admissions requirements are satisfactorily met." (Bolding their, not mine). The only remaining admission requirement on his was a nomination, which he found out he received yesterday. :thumb: His AF one, I'll concede, says only "You are virtually assured of an appointment upon receipt of a nomination."

West Point especially seems to send them out with many more items outstanding (CFA, essays, letters of recommendation), but Navy and AF for the most part seem to only send them out when the file is complete (IC athletes seeming to be the main exception).

Realize that even an appointment isn't a GUARANTEE that you'll be able to be sworn in on I-day. A sudden change in medical status, failing a few classes, robbing a 7-11 :wink: are all things that can cause them to revoke an appointment at any time - anything that shows academically, physically, morally, etc. that you no longer meet the standards. So it would be the same with an LOA - if any of these conditions occurred, they simply wouldn't offer an appointment (rather than revoke one later).

But, barring any unforeseen changes in circumstances, an LOA plus a nomination equals an appointment!
 
An LOA + any nom (assuming medical, etc. are ok) = appointment. If you have more than one nom (e.g., Pres, MOC), USNA decides to whom to slot your appointment. It doesn't matter to you -- it really doesn't.

MOCs may or may not communicate w/each other re noms. TYPICALLY, in competitive regions, the MOCs do talk so as not to duplicate noms. That way, as many kids as possible have a shot. However, it absolutely depends on the individual MOCs. I live in a very competitive area and, in years past (different MOCs than today), did see duplicate noms. Have not with the new crop of MOCs.

Also as noted, it can vary year to year, MOC to MOC, SA to SA. Some MOCs will tell you what's going on and others won't. There's really very little you can do about it other than put your best foot forward with every nom opportunity.

And, yes, USNA tends to know how MOCs approach the nom process -- the MOCs are more likely to discuss their approach with the SAs than with you. Thus, the SAs realize that, in certain regions, getting ONE nom may be more difficult than getting 2 or 3 in other parts of the country.
 
So I guess getting a principal nom and being scholastically qualified is effectively the same as having a regular nom and an LOA?
 
Subdude said:
So I guess getting a principal nom and being scholastically qualified is effectively the same as having a regular nom and an LOA?
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You must be completely qualified: academically, physically, etc. If ALL the blocks are checked off GOOD, then yep!

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
Thought I would post to bring this thread full circle. Daughter received her appointment folder today. Go Navy! We could not be more thankful for the opportunity the USNA has given our daughter. Thanks for all the guidance.
 
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