BGO contacted DS this weekend to congratulate him with the "awesome news" that he was ranked #3 on Senator1's nomination slate, #6 on Senator2's slate, and #5 on his Representative's slate--all for USNA. This frankly took the wind out of our sails. We hadn't realized the slates were ranked in our state, and had previously been very optimistic about him having three nominations. He was also told that the MOCs coordinate in our state to not duplicate, so it is probably a different Principal nom for each. Are we reading this correctly that there are a lot of kids ahead of him for these nominations?
Slate Ranking, not good news?
- Thread starter spinza27
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Not necessarily, the MOCs can send “ranked” slates or unranked slates. If they rank, obviously the #1 candidate would get the slot if fully qualified (and that is a big “if” on the medical side.) If the #1 in not qualified, then it moves on to #2 etc… But, USNA has the final say and for instance if #1 and #2 already gave LOAs then the academy could “charge” them to another source and all of a sudden #3 is charged tho the MOC. And, remember your DS does have a nom. and if “fully qualified“ will be placed on the Natl. Wait List where several hundred qualified candidates are offered appointments each year. The MOCs only control their choice for who is charged to them but not the hundreds of other spots for offers of appointment. In a class of 1,100 -1,200 there are only 535 MOCs so there are many more offers given then just those slate winners. Don’t be discouraged! As you say he is #3 on one list and I have seen several slates where the top 3 or 4 get medically DQed or select other schools, or don‘t pass a CFA, etc.. I don’t know where your DS is with medical, etc.. but keep moving forward - always have the plan “B” but in some competitive states (like where I am in VA) you can have even 5 or 6 on the same senate slate ALL get offers of appointment in the same year! Tell DS to hang in there, enjoy his senior year, and thanks for his willingness to serve! Good luck….
Do you know for sure all three use the principal nomination method? My own son was informed he was #2 for one of our senators when he went through this. While he was #2, the senator used a competitive method, so the rank was a moot point.
Thank you for your replies. I guess we don't know that the principal nomination method was used. The BGO seemed to be saying that a ranking was submitted to the Academy, so we figured #1 would be the principal nomination.
As far as DoDMERB, we were surprised on 9/20 when my son was medically DQed. (Everything indicates it has a very high chance of being waivered.) After he received the nominations all three MOCs told him they were hesitant to give him nominations because of the medical DQ. All three said they didn't give him a nomination to his second choice SA because of the medical DQ (they said they wouldn't waste it on someone that was medically DQed and it was a big deal they gave him one to USNA in spite of the medical DQ). He didn't realize they knew about the DQ. They never asked about it and it never crossed his mind that he needed to discuss it with them (there weren't interviews, either). Unfortunately, it sounds like this played into the nomination decision a bit.
As far as DoDMERB, we were surprised on 9/20 when my son was medically DQed. (Everything indicates it has a very high chance of being waivered.) After he received the nominations all three MOCs told him they were hesitant to give him nominations because of the medical DQ. All three said they didn't give him a nomination to his second choice SA because of the medical DQ (they said they wouldn't waste it on someone that was medically DQed and it was a big deal they gave him one to USNA in spite of the medical DQ). He didn't realize they knew about the DQ. They never asked about it and it never crossed his mind that he needed to discuss it with them (there weren't interviews, either). Unfortunately, it sounds like this played into the nomination decision a bit.
The medical effecting the nomination is interesting. They usually are not aware of medical status. Many candidates, especially this year, still are awaiting their medical determinations. It should not be held against one candidate who started early and is already seeking a waiver. My #2 son (plebe this year) had not even had exams at the time of his nominations last year. I don’t know if your son considered USMMA as a backup to USNA? When my #2 got concerned he might not get his medical waiver he quickly asked congressman for nom. to USMMA and got it (they are statewide and not home congressional district.) He didn’t even start USMMA application until early Jan. and they extended an extra month last year. USMMA uses Naval Reserve for medical waivers, so a little different criteria. Many noms. to USMMA go unused some years. My son did get waivers to all the academies (3) and all turned out okay but always good to have a backup plan.
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It might be helpful to read the pinned post at the top of the Nominations forum.
For more advanced reading, review the link below. That tells you how USNA can offer appointments to other fully qualified applicants on a slate, and those are charged to nom authorities the SA controls.
As noted above, nominees ranked ahead of your son may not be found fully qualified by the SA (medical/DoDMERB, physical/CFA, academic/all other evaluated elements), they may elect to go elsewhere, they may have their appointment charged to a Presidential or other nom, etc.
For more advanced reading, review the link below. That tells you how USNA can offer appointments to other fully qualified applicants on a slate, and those are charged to nom authorities the SA controls.
As noted above, nominees ranked ahead of your son may not be found fully qualified by the SA (medical/DoDMERB, physical/CFA, academic/all other evaluated elements), they may elect to go elsewhere, they may have their appointment charged to a Presidential or other nom, etc.
Thanks again for all the insight. It was very interesting that the MOCs (staff members) said they didn't give him a nom to his second choice SA because of the medical DQ, and that the medical DQ was a huge issue for them in their nomination process (he spoke to all three staff members on the phone over the holidays). What was also interesting was that they said they did NOT know about the DoDMERB website being down. He was trying to be patient during the website downtime (a waiver was requested by his second choice SA on 9/21) and let the process work. All three MOCs said he should have called them in the fall and explained the medical DQ to them and how it was most likely waiverable. They were pretty clear they would have given him the nom to his second choice SA if he didn't have the medical DQ, and they were all clear that he should have called them to discuss the medical DQ. That thought had never crossed his mind. It definitely now seems like a punishment for him doing his physicals in August. But he got the three nominations to USNA so he was very optimistic, until he found out this weekend they were ranked.
Thanks again for the info and the hope!
Thanks again for the info and the hope!