Nomination Applications

[wjk905]

Hello all,
I wanted to ask all of you about the nomination applications. I've been looking into all of the congressional representatives' site for their service academies nominations for the last few weeks now because it took me a while to understand and plan what I have to do for the whole USAFA application.

I thought that two months was good for me to turn in my applications for my nominations, but when I've told my dad about how my application was going along, he told me that I'm probably too late because all of the nominations probably have been made by now because there aren't a lot of space for nominations (which now that I think of it, it's true...I'm dumb.. get on with it). This doesn't mean that I'll give up now but I'm just curious on how the nomination application works. Does it work like a first come first serve thing? Or is there a certain date that they choose to start examining the applicants?

Thank you all for reading this long post!

 

[Hopefulcadetmom]

It's only too late if you missed your Congressional deadlines. For our son, the deadlines are in September. He is at NWP so he completed all 3 plus VP before he left. There is everything you need to know on each of their websites. Good luck!

 

[mom2mnem]

My son doesn't even have his in yet. We have deadlines of Sept, Oct and Nov. They all want his transcript/gpa/rank and we don't start school until next week , so he can't even ask guidance for it yet. ( he tried over the summer and they won't release anything official until "sometime in the fall")

 

[5Day]

For my DS all the MOCs (member of congress) deadlines were the end of October. It all varies, check your specific MOCs web sites or call them.

I do not know of any MOCs that hand out nominations on a first come first serve basis. Typically they review all the applications, interview those that they feel are competitive (some will interview everyone) and then they award the nominations. Nominations must be made by January 31. Some wait till the very last minute. Some will nominate as early as December.

You may have 2 months to complete the process, but you may want to have your goal to have them complete in 1 month (by the end of September) this would then give you a month of cushion to fill in any gaps.

You are not late, but you are a little behind and you still should have time to catch up. This all depends on your specific MOC timelines.

 

[Pima]

I agree with 5 Day. I do not know of any MoCs that do a first come first serve. MoCs impo stick to that deadline date before they hand out because if 1 nom. with lower stats than someone that didn't get it by submitting later can bite that MoC in their arse big time from a constituent level. Hell hath no fury than a voter that feels like their kid got screwed by following the rules and having it in by the deadline only to find out that they were not told it was 1st come 1st serve.

There are many that interview, probably at least 30% or more MoCs do interviews, thus, how can an MoC give out a nomination if they do interviews? The interviews are done in batches...i.e. they will interview on specific dates. Many do not interview everyone...just their top picks. Have you looked on this site in the nomination forum portion to see if your MoCs do interviews?
~ I.E. Let's say you are from NJ? If you use the search tab here you can see from previous years if the MoC does interview. You can also see that NJ historically waits to submit their slate until Jan.
~ DS received all 3 of his MoC noms. (NC). All of them had a deadline date between 9/30 -10/15. Only Sen. Burr did interviews. His interview was in Jan. The other 2 did not interview. The 1st nom came the week before Xmas, almost 2 months after the deadline to submit. The last notification came 1st week of Feb., 4 months after the deadline date. They waited until jan. 31st deadline.

I also agree you want to get this in 1 month prior, at worst 2 weeks prior. The main reason I say that is because, let's assume the deadline is 9/30. You mail it out (registered) on 9/23. They receive it 9/25. You call them on 9/27 to make sure they have it. They say, yes, but we are missing an item. Now you have to overnight that item so it will be there in time.
~ The fact is in highly competitive states like VA where the Senators can have 700+ applicants, they are most likely not going to call you and say you are missing something. Instead, they are just going to dump you into the filing cabinet labeled "incomplete".

IOWS it is up to you to contact them and make sure that your package is complete and ready to be boarded. MoCs use committees to nominate candidates. The MoC does not go through all of the candidates applicants, instead they rely on a committee and than endorses the committees recommendations. The committee is usually a cross flow of all different people, such as ALOs, SA alum, etc. Flieger sits on his states nomination board.

If that MoC requires an essay, I would get on it, as in yesterday. Your goal should be write it, ask someone to proof read it for grammar/structure...i.e. AP Eng teacher. Once proof read, do the editing they suggest. Take the new edited essay to your ALO and ask them to read it. After they mark it up, than do the re-edit. Now you should be on that final and ready to go. This can take a month between getting the teacher to edit, you -re-edit, ALO edits, you re-edit, and final all clear from the ALO. ALO's can have 10 or more candidates, and this is a volunteer position, they have a job, a family, a life, thus it means it can be a week before they respond.
~ Your Eng. teacher is looking at it from a grammar/structure perspective. Your ALO is looking to nail what the MoCs/USAFA likes to read.

I hope that helps.

OBTW as a long time poster I can tell you every year there is a thread labeled : HELP the board meets tomorrow and I just found out that they didn't get XYZ what can I do to make sure I get boarded? Hence why 5 day and I are saying get it in early enough if you need to re-send a missing item...i.e. took a new ACT and they didn't get the new score.

 

[wjk905]

Thank you guys for the great info and help! I really appreciate it!!