Principal Nomination!

Off topic a bit, but I am always curious why any MOC will only submit one name. Are they seriously saying they had only 1 person that they would support for the SAs? Otherwise, they could have submitted a slate of 10 with a principal and an alternate as an option, or principal and ranked.

Just asking because if the candidates apply to all 3 MOCs, and the candidate that got the nom to USNA from them, but gets one to USAFA from another MOC and decides to go to the AFA, the MOC would have nobody left to be appointed. Which impo is unfair to his constituents if indeed he had more than 1 person that would be 3 q'd.

I understand it is his right by law, just saying I wonder about the motivation to do the noms in this manner.

Back on topic, kinnem is right that in essence it is a principal because if the MOC submits a slate they will be charged 1 appointment to the highest WCS candidate that is 3 Q'd. You probably will get a BFE shortly after you are boarded because they (admissions) will not have to wait for any other candidate to be boarded to see who wins the appointment. You are the only one, thus you will have the highest WCS.

Pima, my assumption is that OP is from East Podunk, WY and only 1 person applied for USNA in the district. Everyone else wants to grow up to be a cowboy. Otherwise I'm with you and can't understand why there would only be 1 nom.
 
Getting In The Mix

We are in a state where the Senators do not nominate a principle. The selections are sent in as a competative list.

This is how it was explained to the kids at Academy day...

Senator 1 interviews all the candidates first and nominates his 5. These kids are then taken out of the pool. Senator 2 interviews next and takes his 5. The 10 candidates are then sent to the Academy as a competative list and the selection board then takes who they want.

The Congressman will follow up and interview all in their district candidates including the candidates that the Senators already nominated. To that end I'm not sure if the Congressman have a principle nom or if their choices go in like the Senators.

I now have a question. My DS has a senator nom. If he is to be selected by the congressman are two noms better than one?
 
We are in a state where the Senators do not nominate a principle. The selections are sent in as a competative list.

This is how it was explained to the kids at Academy day...

Senator 1 interviews all the candidates first and nominates his 5. These kids are then taken out of the pool. Senator 2 interviews next and takes his 5. The 10 candidates are then sent to the Academy as a competative list and the selection board then takes who they want.

The Congressman will follow up and interview all in their district candidates including the candidates that the Senators already nominated. To that end I'm not sure if the Congressman have a principle nom or if their choices go in like the Senators.

I now have a question. My DS has a senator nom. If he is to be selected by the congressman are two noms better than one?

The congressman can nominate in any manner they want to. They can have a principal nom or a competitive slate as they chose. It's entirely up to them. Same thing is actually true for the Senators. If they choose to coordinate, then that's up to them, but there is no requirement that they do so.

There is an advantage to multiple noms. This gives one a chance to compete on multiple slates and perhaps getting an appointment from one of them, prior to moving the the national wait list. Of course they can be appointed off the wait list as well, but they're competing against the entire nation there, as opposed to simply competing against the people on their slate.
 
We are in a state where the Senators do not nominate a principle. The selections are sent in as a competative list.

This is how it was explained to the kids at Academy day...

Senator 1 interviews all the candidates first and nominates his 5. These kids are then taken out of the pool. Senator 2 interviews next and takes his 5. The 10 candidates are then sent to the Academy as a competative list.

Each senator and congressman may nominate up to 10 candidates for each open spot he/she has at each academy They can have 5 people, who were appointed as a result of their nomination, at each academy at any given time. Usually this means they have one open slot for each academy -- sometimes more. Each of those senators should be nominating 10 candidates, not 5.
 
I stand corrected (by many). Upon further research I find the law extends to the Admissions Board's definition of "Qualified". I was basing a quick answer on a case we had where a principal nom candidate was 3Q'ed but never offered an appointment. It turns out that a drug issue was involved that was never discussed. Sorry for the bum info.
 
USNA Class of 2017 Nom Stats

Interesting Stats from USNA Class of 2017 do shed some light on where the noms come from:

Presidential.................................................... 822
Congressional............................................... 5,103
Secretary of the Navy.................................... 366
ROTC/JROTC................................................. 122
Children of Deceased/Disabled Veterans............ 27
Total Nominations...........................................6,440
Appointments for class of 2017 = 1,408

Useful stats:
Average Noms per MOC ~ 9.5
Appointments as % of Total Noms = 21.9%

The 9.5 noms per MOC supports implies that the majority of MOCs do submit a 10 candidate slate to USNA.
 
Can't Assume Triple Q - Be Careful

While a candidate has a clear report from DODMERB if they are Medically Q and they can probably tell if they passed the CFA for physical Q, the Academic Q involves more than just looking at board scores, GPA and ECAs. It also involves the teacher recommendations, BGO interview and the essays. As a BGO, I am told specifically not to inform candidates if they are Triple Q. Unless you know exactly what the BGO interview write-up says and the teacher recommendations, you do not have all of the information needed to assess a candidate in the same way the board does. I would not assume you are triple Q until told by the academy directly. Also, you can be considered triple Q for one academy and not triple Q for another. Waiting is tiring and difficult, but it is better than running off in the wrong direction based upon assumptions. Stick to the facts you know. Anything else is opinion, and could be proven to be worng later.
 
While a candidate has a clear report from DODMERB if they are Medically Q and they can probably tell if they passed the CFA for physical Q, the Academic Q involves more than just looking at board scores, GPA and ECAs. It also involves the teacher recommendations, BGO interview and the essays. As a BGO, I am told specifically not to inform candidates if they are Triple Q. Unless you know exactly what the BGO interview write-up says and the teacher recommendations, you do not have all of the information needed to assess a candidate in the same way the board does. I would not assume you are triple Q until told by the academy directly. Also, you can be considered triple Q for one academy and not triple Q for another. Waiting is tiring and difficult, but it is better than running off in the wrong direction based upon assumptions. Stick to the facts you know. Anything else is opinion, and could be proven to be worng later.

Thank you BGO83!

And just to clarify, USNA is not going to tell the candidates this information until an admissions decision is made…i.e., by receiving an offer OR a letter stating that they were qualified but not appointed. Is this correct?
 
While a candidate has a clear report from DODMERB if they are Medically Q and they can probably tell if they passed the CFA for physical Q, the Academic Q involves more than just looking at board scores, GPA and ECAs. It also involves the teacher recommendations, BGO interview and the essays. As a BGO, I am told specifically not to inform candidates if they are Triple Q. Unless you know exactly what the BGO interview write-up says and the teacher recommendations, you do not have all of the information needed to assess a candidate in the same way the board does. I would not assume you are triple Q until told by the academy directly. Also, you can be considered triple Q for one academy and not triple Q for another. Waiting is tiring and difficult, but it is better than running off in the wrong direction based upon assumptions. Stick to the facts you know. Anything else is opinion, and could be proven to be worng later.

Good point!
 
Excellent...

This post has some excellent information...good stuff!!

Cheers!
 
Thank you BGO83!

And just to clarify, USNA is not going to tell the candidates this information until an admissions decision is made…i.e., by receiving an offer OR a letter stating that they were qualified but not appointed. Is this correct?

It seems the waters can be murky till the board's final decision. You can also be Deferred for a specific area. See USNA Deferral post a week or so ago. Best of luck!
 
You are the prin. nom. to Navy if he called you himself. In that case, congrats, as my first choice was navy, and they thought you to be the better candidate, and for that, props.

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Pima, our MOC nominated 1 to each of the big 3 academies. I agree that more than one should be nominated to one academy, as I had my heart set on USNA and now I'm struggling with the fact that I might end up in New York with no hope of fulfilling my life-long dream of flying an f-18. Still happy I got the prin. and the board thought highly of me, but still disappointed. I got a competitive nom from my senator, who nominates 2 prins to each of the big 3 academies. I look at this forum and see all of the candidates with much better resume's than my own who got twe's and really not thinking I'll get in without a prin. Thanks for all the info everyone, especially pima who seems to be able to answer every question I ask. And congrats to ND_candidate as well.

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I should clarify, our MOC gave one prin nom to each academy, as well as multiple competitives to those who didn't get a prin.

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Triple Q

I am fairly certain that USNA does not inform candidates when they reach triple Q status - only whan a decision has been made. It really serves them no purpose to do so - from their veiwpoint. They will have many more people who are triple Q with a nomination than they will have spots in the next class. Some of the folks who don't get offers will be offered NAPS or the Foundation instead, but some won't. Just like any other college, some poeple who could have been admitted won't be admitted.

As far as the dream of flying F-18s, I believe there is still a way to do so. Unless things have changed recently, every year at graduation, a very small handful of USNA grads actually get commissioned in the USAF or USA, and the reverse is also true. The requirement was that for every USNA grad who wanted to go Army, there had to be an Army grad who wanted to switch to USN or USMC. The roommate of a good friend of mine graduated from USNA but was commissioned in the Air Force. They actually had a USAF General at the graduation who administered the oath of office to that single guy in front of everyone. I do not know if this prectice continues to this day, but I have not seen or read anything that says it has not continued. I'm sure some folks on the board could provide current info.
 
Well I sure hope that is still the case. Just found out I got an alt nom to USAFA & USNA. So hopefully one of them will work out, it doesn't hurt to have options.
 
You are the prin. nom. to Navy if he called you himself.

Simply getting a phone call from the Senator, himself, does not necessarily make one the principal nominee. Maybe he calls everybody on his slate to congratulate them.

Unless you are specifically told your are the principal nominee, it's not safe to assume you are.
 
Simply getting a phone call from the Senator, himself, does not necessarily make one the principal nominee. Maybe he calls everybody on his slate to congratulate them.

Unless you are specifically told your are the principal nominee, it's not safe to assume you are.

After seeing this thread, I contacted the Congressmen's office and found out I do have a principle nomination.
 
The staff member for our congressman said that he calls all of his principal noms to congratulate them, and only the principal noms.

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The staff member for our congressman said that he calls all of his principal noms to congratulate them, and only the principal noms.

I'm sure that's true, but each congressman is free to handle it any way they want. Many call, or at least try to call, each nominee... for the political mileage they get out of it, if nothing else.
 
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