To All 2015 USMA Candidates

buff81

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A word to the wise:

Your file should be complete by now!

IOW - all the icons on your candidate portal should be green. NOW!

Why?
Once your file is complete (excluding Medical)- it will then be reviewed for qualification by your RC who then passes it along for review to another RC and a member of the admissions committee. This review check by 3 sets of eyes could take a couple of weeks this time of year which is why it is important to have your file complete by now so you can be qualified by the time the noms come in.
Once your file has gone through this qualifying process - you will receive a letter from Admissions telling you your status.
Once the noms come in, fully qualified candidates (academic, medical and physical) with a nom can be offered appointments or placed on the NWL.

Do yourself a favor and complete your file ASAP!
 
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What is the typical time frame between receiving a nomination and being offered an appointment?

West Point received my nomination form my Senator yesterday; how long should I be expected to wait to hear from USMA?
 
shale2011 - are you the Senator's principal nom? Is your file complete? Are you medically qualified?
 
shale2011 - are you the Senator's principal nom? Is your file complete? Are you medically qualified?

I do not know if I am my Senator's principal nomination, on my USMA admissions file it just shows the code MO61 for my nomination.

my file is 100% complete and I received a letter saying I was fully qualified on November 2nd.
 
My daughter's file has been complete since September. She attended SLS, scored well on the CFT, was medically qualified in July, and has a 'very strong' file from what everyone has told us (98gpa, 1970 sats, 10 varsity letters, 2 capts, loads of clubs, student council etc). Lots of kids who attended SLS with her received the 3Q letters and Buff81 states above to get all in as her file wll be reviewed earlier and Admissions would let her know status. Is it strange she's not heard anything with file being complete for this long to include medical? She did receive a nomination from Senator today. But, i noticed that Buff81 also asked above if somene's nomination was their primary, but our MALO advises that no one (including him) except ADmissions will ever know if she got primary appt or not. Just confused by all this process.....
 
My congresswoman's office old me what type of nom I got.
 
What is the typical time frame between receiving a nomination and being offered an appointment?

It depends. Don't you just love that answer! :shake:
It depends on the kind of nom you have - which is why I asked.

IF your Senator submits a Principal/Numbered Alternate or Principal/Competing Alternate slate then-

1) IF you are the Principal nom and are fully qualified ( which you said you are) - Congratulations!!!! As soon as WP is notified by that MOC that you are the principal nom then you will be offered an appointment! The admissions committee meets every Tuesday. At the latest, soon after Jan 31, depending on when the next Tuesday is.
The usual procedure at that point is that WP will give the MOC the opportunity to tell the candidate of the appointment. They usually wait about 72 hours then the RC or FFR can tell you. Or you may get no notification except for the BFE in the mail.

2) If you are not the Principal and are fully qualified - you will be placed on the NWL. Candidates can be pulled off the NWL up until R-Day.


IF your Senator uses the Competitive slate, then-
If you have the highest WCS on the competitive slate and are fully qualified then Congratulations!!!! You are that MOCs vacancy winner and you will be offered an appointment!
The time frame b/t nom and appointment in this case varies. The vacancy winner may not be determined until after the file completion deadline (end of February).
The notification procedure is the same as above.

If you are not the Vacancy winner on a competitive slate and are fully qualified, you will be placed on the NWL.

Hope that answers your question. :thumb:
 
My daughter's file has been complete since September. She attended SLS, scored well on the CFT, was medically qualified in July, and has a 'very strong' file from what everyone has told us (98gpa, 1970 sats, 10 varsity letters, 2 capts, loads of clubs, student council etc). Lots of kids who attended SLS with her received the 3Q letters and Buff81 states above to get all in as her file wll be reviewed earlier and Admissions would let her know status. Is it strange she's not heard anything with file being complete for this long to include medical? She did receive a nomination from Senator today. But, i noticed that Buff81 also asked above if somene's nomination was their primary, but our MALO advises that no one (including him) except ADmissions will ever know if she got primary appt or not. Just confused by all this process.....

The process is confusing at times.

I can't answer why your daughter has not received any kind of qualification letter.
Sometimes qualification status is held up because some clarification is needed but your MALO should be aware of that if that is the case.
If this really concerns you, ask your MALO. He can look at her file and maybe something will pop out at him.
Also, you can always have your daughter contact her RC.
.
As far as knowing if she received a Principal nom - it's true- MALOs/FFRs don't have that kind of information, but sometimes the MOC will tell the candidate that they are their Principal nom.

Congratulations to her on the Senator's nom. One step closer!
 
Greyhogs, I would highly encourage your daughter to call her RC in admissions as Buff81 advised above. Not only can she ask what she might do to make her file stronger, but it shows that she is truly interested and puts her into the forefront of his/her mind.
 
Thanks for the responses...not sure if any of this is more clear! She did email the Senator's office regarding nomination and was told that '"all candidates are 'competitive' within congressional offices"....so i guess this means they do not put forth a primary? And she will likely get put on NWL (?) unless she happens to have highest WCS which we obviously have no way of knowing anyway.
 
My daughter's file has been complete since September. She attended SLS, scored well on the CFT, was medically qualified in July, and has a 'very strong' file from what everyone has told us (98gpa, 1970 sats, 10 varsity letters, 2 capts, loads of clubs, student council etc). Lots of kids who attended SLS with her received the 3Q letters and Buff81 states above to get all in as her file wll be reviewed earlier and Admissions would let her know status. Is it strange she's not heard anything with file being complete for this long to include medical? She did receive a nomination from Senator today. But, i noticed that Buff81 also asked above if somene's nomination was their primary, but our MALO advises that no one (including him) except ADmissions will ever know if she got primary appt or not. Just confused by all this process.....

FWIW: My daughter never received any type of qualification letter from USMA. Low and behold she recieved her appointment. I completely understand how hard the waiting is, but try not to read into anything. There are thousands of applicants and sometimes things just slip through.

Hang in there!! The one thing they can't stop is the clock!! Good Luck!!
 
So, nomination #2 just came in from the other Senator in our State. They told the candidates they all got together to coordinate between the MOCs so we were surprised to get the second and not sure what significance this has, if any?
 
It improves her chances somewhat because, as the Academy fits its jigsaw puzzle of candidates and nominations together, it puts her in more than one nomination pool and gives them a little more flexibility in their allocation.
 
It depends. Don't you just love that answer! :shake:
It depends on the kind of nom you have - which is why I asked.

IF your Senator submits a Principal/Numbered Alternate or Principal/Competing Alternate slate then-

1) IF you are the Principal nom and are fully qualified ( which you said you are) - Congratulations!!!! As soon as WP is notified by that MOC that you are the principal nom then you will be offered an appointment! The admissions committee meets every Tuesday. At the latest, soon after Jan 31, depending on when the next Tuesday is.
The usual procedure at that point is that WP will give the MOC the opportunity to tell the candidate of the appointment. They usually wait about 72 hours then the RC or FFR can tell you. Or you may get no notification except for the BFE in the mail.

2) If you are not the Principal and are fully qualified - you will be placed on the NWL. Candidates can be pulled off the NWL up until R-Day.


IF your Senator uses the Competitive slate, then-
If you have the highest WCS on the competitive slate and are fully qualified then Congratulations!!!! You are that MOCs vacancy winner and you will be offered an appointment!
The time frame b/t nom and appointment in this case varies. The vacancy winner may not be determined until after the file completion deadline (end of February).
The notification procedure is the same as above.

If you are not the Vacancy winner on a competitive slate and are fully qualified, you will be placed on the NWL.

Hope that answers your question. :thumb:

Thank you for the information, I called my Senator today and the office said that the nominations are not ranked and there is not a principal nomination. With that being said, should I expect to be put on the NWL (i am fully qualified) and does the time frame change from what was already mentioned, now knowing that my Senator does not rank?
 
Good news, DS found out by phone he has received an nomination for both USMA and USNA:thumb: We are still in the hunt:wink:
 
It depends. Don't you just love that answer! :shake:
It depends on the kind of nom you have - which is why I asked.

IF your Senator submits a Principal/Numbered Alternate or Principal/Competing Alternate slate then-

1) IF you are the Principal nom and are fully qualified ( which you said you are) - Congratulations!!!! As soon as WP is notified by that MOC that you are the principal nom then you will be offered an appointment! The admissions committee meets every Tuesday. At the latest, soon after Jan 31, depending on when the next Tuesday is.
The usual procedure at that point is that WP will give the MOC the opportunity to tell the candidate of the appointment. They usually wait about 72 hours then the RC or FFR can tell you. Or you may get no notification except for the BFE in the mail.

2) If you are not the Principal and are fully qualified - you will be placed on the NWL. Candidates can be pulled off the NWL up until R-Day.


IF your Senator uses the Competitive slate, then-
If you have the highest WCS on the competitive slate and are fully qualified then Congratulations!!!! You are that MOCs vacancy winner and you will be offered an appointment!
The time frame b/t nom and appointment in this case varies. The vacancy winner may not be determined until after the file completion deadline (end of February).
The notification procedure is the same as above.

If you are not the Vacancy winner on a competitive slate and are fully qualified, you will be placed on the NWL.


Hope that answers your question. :thumb:

Thank you for the information, I called my Senator today and the office said that the nominations are not ranked and there is not a principal nomination. With that being said, should I expect to be put on the NWL (i am fully qualified) and does the time frame change from what was already mentioned, now knowing that my Senator does not rank?

From what your Senator's office told you, he/she submits a competitive slate which is explained in the second part (highlighted in red) of my post that you quoted.

If you are not the vacancy winner, then you will be placed on the NWL.

The time frame is not cut and dry.
Like I said earlier, a vacancy winner MAY not be determined until after the file completion deadline, however conversely, it CAN be determined BEFORE then.
WP does NOT wait until all files on the slate are complete to make this determination. They make offers as soon as they can.
However, if the #1 candidate is fully qualified with a complete file and the #2 or #3 candidate has an incomplete file with a WCS close enough that they could move ahead of #1 when complete, then WP will wait.
So, if you (with a complete file) are sitting there with the highest WCS, far above the other 9 and another candidate who WOULD ultimately have a higher WCS has an incomplete file then you could be the vacancy winner and not them even though they would have been the vacancy winner IF they had completed their file early.
This is one of the reasons that we FFRs urge candidates to complete their files as soon as possible.
It's the first of December and your Senator has turned in his/her slate. The vacancy winner from that slate could be determined soon or not so soon. It depends on your WCS, who else is on the slate, their WCS and possibly how complete the files are and of course if anyone on the slate is not fully qualified then they can not be the vacancy winner.

You've done all you can do at this point - which is an accomplishment!
You have a completed file, you are fully qualified and you have a nom ( and hopefully you have applied to all nom. sources that you are qualified for!).
Now prepare yourself that you may have to wait a while to hear anything. I know that is extremely hard. Been there done that.
Continue to update your file to raise your WCS and keep in communication with your MALO/FFR.
Try to enjoy Christmas and your Senior year.

Hope that makes sense.
If not, ask more questions!
 
I received a nom from my senator for USMA around the 19th of November and then my Senator called me about a week later notifying me that I was accepted. I received a packet in the mail, which is very impressive, about a week after that notifying me again that I was accepted. Everything happened in a span of two weeks, but since I had an LOA, I'm guessing that this was rather quick. Hope I helped. Oh, and the letter from my senator didn't say what type of nom I was given.
 
I received a nom from my senator for USMA around the 19th of November and then my Senator called me about a week later notifying me that I was accepted. I received a packet in the mail, which is very impressive, about a week after that notifying me again that I was accepted. Everything happened in a span of two weeks, but since I had an LOA, I'm guessing that this was rather quick. Hope I helped. Oh, and the letter from my senator didn't say what type of nom I was given.

I'm in the same boat as you (roughly). I haven't received my packet yet and was wondering what was in it. Could you shed some light on the packet?
 
usna candidate - Congratulations on your appointment!! :yay::yay:
What a nice early Christmas present.
The West Point appointment folder IS very nice. :thumb: :thumb:
Judging by your username, I assume that USNA is your first choice. I hope it all works out for you.

Just to make it clear - shale2011 does not have a LOA. Because you did, it makes it a different situation time wise in hearing about an appointment after notification of a nom. Your situations are very different and really can't be compared to each other.

In your case, if the nom was all you needed, then you were offered the appointment post haste. All you needed was a nom. It didn't matter what kind of slate or where you were on the slate. You just needed a nom. You did not have to be the Prinicipal or the one with the highest WCS (if it was a competitive slate). You just had to be on the slate. Just one of the 10.

Your time frame was 'probably' this. Your Senator turned in his/her slate. The next time the Admissions committee met ( every Tuesday), they approved your appointment because you had a LOA and now a nom (still assuming that the nom was the only condition left to be met on your LOA). They then notified your Senator of your appointment. He/she called you with the good news. In the meantime, WP was preparing your beautiful appointment folder. They mailed it. You received it. Viola! You have been officially offered an appointment to USMA!!!

shale2011 has a nom from a competitive slate. If he does not have the highest WCS of the others on that slate then he will be placed on the NWL.
Being on the NWL is not the end of the world. It means that you are fully qualified and you have a MOC nom but you were not the vacancy winner. It is entirely possible that all 10 on any slate could be offered an appointment. But the only person who will be charged against that MOC's slot, will be the vacancy winner.
 
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