Texas Nominations for 2014

2

2010

5-Year Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Messages
49
i posted this under the nominations category, but I figured i'd stick it up here as well.

is there anyone out there that lives in the 28th district? I did my interview with Cuellar's office back on dec. 4, and was told by the three colonels doing the interview that I had really good credentials. To top it off, I got a LOA from West Point (my first choice) the following monday. Then the next week I get a rejection letter from Cornyn. Then the day after that i get a rejection letter from Cuellar. Still haven't heard anything from Hutchison. I was pretty puzzled after getting the thumbs down from Cuellar since I figured it a district that's not as competitive (has mainly rural border counties in it where practically no one lives). To top it off the guys he had doing the interview practically told me I was in (not trying to brag or exaggerate, that pretty much the way it was). I'm really worried since getting one from Hutchison seems like a long shot. I've got a backup with a NROTC scholarship to A&M, but getting into West Point has been a really big deal for me since I was in the third grade, so its been pretty frustrating.

Anyways here's some info on me if you guys have any tips
GPA: 3.68
Rank: 2 out of about 126
SAT: CR- 720, Math- 630, Writing- 670
ACT: 28

did Varsity football (captain)

Varsity powerlifting

JV cross-country

Varsity track

played 7-on-7 football

am on and have been on UIL Academic team for math stuff

NHS member

FFA member as well (went to state in one of their career developement competitions and regionals in their leadership developement competitions)

writer for school newspaper

also, i did some snooping around on the WP parents website for south texas, and i figure from the list of cadets on there that Cuellar should have had at least one slot open at west point, which means he could have nominated up to ten people this year at least. And when you figure in that he probably had vacancies open at both Annapolis and USAFA as well, that adds up to at least 30 nominations. i saw the list of people to be interviewed on the day that i went in for my interview, and there was only about 30 people on it. so naturally ive been quite worried these past few weeks, since i heard there were as many as 800 applicants to Hutchison's office . Anyways any tips or info onto how many slots were open this year with the 28th or Hutchison or what the odds are with getting a nom from Hutchison would be greatly appreciated. Also I got an LOA from the Naval Academy just the other day.
 
In TX the MOC's do not duplicate. Maybe, you have a nomination from Hutchinson. Have you checked all the candidade pages, or dodmerb? Just a thought. My son received a nomination from Lloyd Dogget for USNA right before Christmas, but was also turned down by Cronyn. I know it's difficult, but don't get too upset until you know for sure (easier said then done).
 
LOA but no nomination from John Cornyn and Sam Johnson (TX 3)

Hi,

My son has an LOA for USMA, but, rejected for nomination by John Cornyn and Sam Johnson (TX 3).

He's pretty discouraged. Senator Hutchinson announces this month, no indication that he would have something from her.

I see many indications in these forums that an LOA ought to assure appointment to the Academy, but, an appointment from Senator Hutchinson seems like a long shot, and, I'm not sure how an appointment can happen for him.

Any encouragement for my son or the originator of this thread?
 
FWIW, I pulled out my son's file from last year and the letter he got from Sen. Hutchison was dated February 12. He already had a nomination and so he did not get her nomination. Here is the relevant paragraph: "Although you were evaluated by the Academy Selection Board, my office learned that XXX nominated you to the United States Military Academy. In an effort to maximize the number of Texans attending the United States Service Academies, I nominated another applicant to the academy."

Seems pretty clear that she will be nominating candidates who don't otherwise have nominations so don't give up hope!
 
nomination by Hutchison

My son got his USMMA nomination from Sen. Hutchison last year when our MOC in the 19th district's staff couldn't get their act together. It was kind of last minute when I frantically called Hutchison's staff to tell them that my son had a LOA, but still needed a nomination. When her staff asked which district we were in, she said it is a pretty frequent problem and went straight to work on the nomination. This all took place the last few days of January. I was sure glad that my son had applied to her for a nomination, even though our congressman's office told us that was not really necessary since they didn't have others seeking a nom for USMMA. I found her staff very helpful and knowledgable. Hopefully, with a LOA, you will be on Hutchison's nomination slate. Keep the faith and good luck.
 
Yeah, like i said in the other thread, I guess I just need to be patient. I've been checking my profile page every day, even though Admissions staff is still probably on break, but it still says I haven't received any nominations. I didn't know though that DODMerb might have some info on there about receiving a nomination. I'm still pretty perplexed that I couldn't get a nom from Cuellar for either West Point, USNA, or USAFA.

As to rockycollins's post, I'll have to admit that I'm pretty worried to hear that your son is in the same predicament as me. Reason being, finding out I'm gonna have even more competition isn't comforting. However, I hope we can both get a nomination from her, if that's possible. I was reading the USNA's profile though for their class of 2011, and they gave out their admission's numbers as far as nominations go. Out of all their applicants, over 4,000 received nominations. Out of those 4,000, only 1,300 were accepted by the academy. I'm assuming that USMA's numbers would be about the same. So basically, it would make sense that both me and your son should rank up in that top one-third that didn't get cut. Therefore you would think it would be a lot easier to get a nomination than an LOA, which we've already got.

Anyways I'm probably gonna take Texmom's advice and get in contact with Hutchison's office, and see if that might help any.
 
2010 said:
Anyways I'm probably gonna take Texmom's advice and get in contact with Hutchison's office, and see if that might help any.
Click to expand...

Let your son get in contact with Hutchinson's office. I am sure they would appreciate the initiative from the applicant as opposed to their parents doing the application for them.
 
Lol, I am the candidate. :shake: Anyways I did send an email to her office today. Hopefully that might help. And best of luck to your son by the way, rockycollins.
 
2010 said:
Lol, I am the candidate. :shake: Anyways I did send an email to her office today. Hopefully that might help. And best of luck to your son by the way, rockycollins.
Click to expand...

Let us know what you find out!!!
 
I am also a candidate for an appointment to USNA. I have received two nominations so far, but not a LOA. Its also to my understanding that no senator or congressman can have more than eight candidates at any service academy at one time. So your congressman might not have had any to USMA this year. I know that I am in the 25 district, and Doggett had 2 nominations to USNA. But they each usually only have around two nominations to give out each year each. Don't get discouraged, I was rejected by Cornyn too. I am sure you will do fine, and hopefully we will both receive a nomination one from Hutchinson!!

I am not an expert, but i am trying to help in anyway that I can.
You might want to contact the academy and see what they would advise you to do. They are extremely helpful.
Good Luck to you :D
 
also i am curious what you meant by you received an LOA. Letter of recommendation? I have received numerous letters from the academy but none of them flat out said "You have an appointment." What did your letter say exactly? Because from what i have heard you have to have a nomination to receive an appointment....
 
LOA means "letter of assurance". You can ask other people on here who have gotten them more about the details, but they only send them out to the very competitive candidates. Mine was dated November 25, and the first few lines sums it up I guess: "Congratulations! The Admissions Committee has recommended you for an appointment to the United States Military Academy. Accordingly, I have reserved a cadetship for you contingent upon receipt of a nomination, continued excellence in school, and file completion. You must send the Admissions Office your Physics/Chemistry School Official's Evaluation by January 24, 2010 or this letter of assurance will be withdrawn. When these matters are resolved, you will be appointed a member of the USMA Class of 2014... Because this letter is sent only to outstanding candidates deserving an offer of admission, your accomplishments to date should be a source of special satisfaction to you and your family."

So yeah, that's pretty much the jist of it. Anyways I had my SOE form sent in right after I got the letter, so that's been taken care of.

Also, I never got an email back from Hutchison's office, and its been about mabye two weeks. But, I've got a friend of the family who's a retired Army colonel and he knows Hutchison, so he was talking to her Nominations coordinator the other day. He said though that he found out I wasn't gonna be in her top ten slate. He did say though that after he told the coordinator that Cuellar was my congressman, that she said she was going to talk to his office, so I'm not sure what to make of that.

I've been pretty perplexed though since there's another kid in my senior class that applied to Cuellar for a nomination. I'm not trying to blow my own horn or sound like a whiner, but in my opinion I was more qualified. He scored a 1700 on the SAT, didn't take the ACT, and I scored 1960 on the SAT, and 28 on the ACT. Im ranked 2nd, and he's 17th. As far as extracurricular stuff goes, his only activities to put down were football, basketball, baseball. He's lettered in those sports, but that is as far his awards go. He also has no relatives that were/are in the military that I'm aware of. So in the end, Annapolis is the only academy he applies to, with Cuellar being his only source that he applied to, and he gets nominated by Cuellar. I apply to USAFA, USNA, and USMA, and don't get any nominations from Cuellar or the senators. He's also told me that USNA isn't even his first choice for college, and that he'd rather go to Texas Tech and be in their AFROTC. He also just started applying to Annapolis a month or so ago. This other guy is a good friend of mine, and I really do believe he's a good kid, even though it appears I've been putting him down. I will admit though that it's been really hard for me not to be jealous.

I guess it's a good lesson though that you can't take anything for granted. I guess my only thing to do now is email my ALO and ask him about the status of my app and what the odds might be of getting a Supe's nomination.
 
cheer 2010 said:
I am also a candidate for an appointment to USNA. I have received two nominations so far, but not a LOA. Its also to my understanding that no senator or congressman can have more than eight candidates at any service academy at one time. So your congressman might not have had any to USMA this year. I know that I am in the 25 district, and Doggett had 2 nominations to USNA. But they each usually only have around two nominations to give out each year each. Don't get discouraged, I was rejected by Cornyn too. I am sure you will do fine, and hopefully we will both receive a nomination one from Hutchinson!!

I am not an expert, but i am trying to help in anyway that I can.
You might want to contact the academy and see what they would advise you to do. They are extremely helpful.
Good Luck to you :D
Click to expand...

BTW, MOC's are only allowed to have five cadets at any one time, and are able to nominate ten candidates for each vacancy. I've never heard of a MOC not having any vacancies open for a year, but I guess it's possible. Thanks for your encouragement though.
 
cheer 2010 - Unfortunately it does happen that a MOC will not have a nomination for a particular year. It happened to our son last year. He had to rely on a nomination from the Senators, but it was just too competitive. Although it's been a long road, he did receive a nomination this time, and with his hard work, and all the prayers he'll receive an appointment this time. It's difficult watching him reapply, but we couldn't be more proud. Good Luck to you and everyone else still waiting!
 
2010 said:
BTW, MOC's are only allowed to have five cadets at any one time, and are able to nominate ten candidates for each vacancy. I've never heard of a MOC not having any vacancies open for a year, but I guess it's possible. Thanks for your encouragement though.
Click to expand...

It does happen. Our Congressman didn't have any slots for the Air Force Academy for this year and there was a letter in his nomination package that stated to apply for the VP and Senators nominations.
 
VP Nomination

Hopefully you applied for a VP Nomination. They often use those to get people with an LOA but no nomination in.
 
Well, I did apply for the VP, but i guess it doesn't matter now. I got a call from my MOC today saying that I was going to be getting a nomination and that there had been a mix-up. So fortunately all the drama is over and now I just gotta wait for the appointment package in the mail. :biggrin:
 
TXUSNAMOM said:
cheer 2010 - Unfortunately it does happen that a MOC will not have a nomination for a particular year. It happened to our son last year. He had to rely on a nomination from the Senators, but it was just too competitive. Although it's been a long road, he did receive a nomination this time, and with his hard work, and all the prayers he'll receive an appointment this time. It's difficult watching him reapply, but we couldn't be more proud. Good Luck to you and everyone else still waiting!
Click to expand...

That's pretty unfortunate. My RD told me that they usually try to have a cadet in each class. However, best of luck to your son, which he probably won't need, since from what I hear, being a second-timer usually makes your profile look even more impressive.
 
My son just received an appointment letter after getting rejections from our MoC and both Senators. The Academy must have just ignored them and got him in anyway.
 
rockycollins said:
My son just received an appointment letter after getting rejections from our MoC and both Senators. The Academy must have just ignored them and got him in anyway.
Click to expand...

Someone HAD to have given him a nomination, otherwise he wouldn't be able to receive an appointment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top