USNA Class of 2028 Waiting and Speculating

hopefulmama1218 said:
Does anyone know when will the NWP will kick off? My DS has a nom for USNA but just an alternate. When will appointments come for those who are does not have primary/competitive nom?
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Any time between now and usually mid-April. If your DS has been found fully qualified (USNA typically does not inform the candidate) and has a nom, any flavor, they are in the pool of eligible candidates being considered for an appointment.

At this time of year, thousands of bits of data, hundreds of slates and other candidate info are all surging into Admissions - which does not have a staff of hundreds. There are many parallel and interconnecting processes to review, evaluate, decide, QA, finalize an offer of appointment.

Since the “nom bucket” that contains all fully qualified candidates with MOC noms not being offered the appointment being charged to the MOC is still filling up, logic dictates until all slates and candidate applications are in, you can’t finalize a list of candidates drawn from this nom bucket.
 
Capt MJ said:
Any time between now and usually mid-April. If your DS has been found fully qualified (USNA typically does not inform the candidate) and has a nom, any flavor, they are in the pool of eligible candidates being considered for an appointment.

At this time of year, thousands of bits of data, hundreds of slates and other candidate info are all surging into Admissions - which does not have a staff of hundreds. There are many parallel and interconnecting processes to review, evaluate, decide, QA, finalize an offer of appointment.

Since the “nom bucket” that contains all fully qualified candidates with MOC noms not being offered the appointment being charged to the MOC is still filling up, logic dictates until all slates and candidate applications are in, you can’t finalize a list of candidates drawn from this nom bucket.
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Thanks @Capt MJ for the prompt response. The NWP is by order of merit? Those fully qualified at this stage but has competitive nom instead of principal nom from MOC might have a better chance of getting appointment early? We are grateful our MOC did nominate our DS even as alternate at least he still has a chance instead of not receiving any nom at all.
 
hopefulmama1218 said:
Thanks @Capt MJ for the prompt response. The NWP is by order of merit? Those fully qualified at this stage but has competitive nom instead of principal nom from MOC might have a better chance of getting appointment early? We are grateful our MOC did nominate our DS even as alternate at least he still has a chance instead of not receiving any nom at all.
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Not necessarily by order. I believe it’s the first 150 and then whomever USNA chooses after. Type of nom is not really going to change anything. National pool is the national pool. Majority of appointments go out from late Jan to mid-March. April 15th is the magic date everyone will know by minus a few exceptions.
 
NavyHoops said:
Not necessarily by order. I believe it’s the first 150 and then whomever USNA chooses after. Type of nom is not really going to change anything. National pool is the national pool. Majority of appointments go out from late Jan to mid-March. April 15th is the magic date everyone will know by minus a few exceptions.
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Thanks @NavyHoops. First 150 to be fully qualified? Anyway, DS application to USNA is now complete. One lingering question I have is: were there fully qualified with a nom that eventually didnt receive appointment?
 
hopefulmama1218 said:
Thanks @NavyHoops. First 150 to be fully qualified? Anyway, DS application to USNA is now complete. One lingering question I have is: were there fully qualified with a nom that eventually didnt receive appointment?
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Yes usna website says approx 3000 applicants will be 3q and nominated each year, but only approx 1400 appointments issued.
 
hopefulmama1218 said:
Thanks @NavyHoops. First 150 to be fully qualified? Anyway, DS application to USNA is now complete. One lingering question I have is: were there fully qualified with a nom that eventually didnt receive appointment?
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Yes. They must be qualified (some might need medical waivers) and have a nom to sit in the national pool. First 150 ranked (so highest admissions score essentially). Yes, many who are 3Q with a nom do not get an appointment. USNA does not release all the numbers, but it is speculated (as I said, no proof), that those 3Q with a Nom is around a 40% appointment rate. That number came up years ago. No idea if it’s accurate, but I think it’s in the ballpark. The post above, shows that number is pretty accurate. More than anything it shows that more will receive the TWE than the BFE. It’s competitive.
 
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JerseyDad said:
Yes usna website says approx 3000 applicants will be 3q and nominated each year, but only approx 1400 appointments issued.
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Good data point - and don’t do a percentage and determine that’s the overall “chance.” It’s the competition in each nom bucket. There might be 500-600 fully qualified candidates with Presidential noms, but only 100 appointments can be charged to that source. Twenty can be charged to the JROTC/college ROTC category.

For @hopefulmama1218 here is some advanced reading on nom sources and appointments available:

You can also go look at past annual USNA appointment lists and notice when there are long spurts of MOC appointments listed - usually February, March and petering out in April. The appointee doesn’t actually know where their appointment is being charged, to MOC or to nom sources controlled by USNA, unless principal nom. And it doesn’t matter at all.
 
NavyHoops said:
Not necessarily by order. I believe it’s the first 150 and then whomever USNA chooses after. Type of nom is not really going to change anything. National pool is the national pool. Majority of appointments go out from late Jan to mid-March. April 15th is the magic date everyone will know by minus a few exceptions.
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Exactly.
 
hopefulmama1218 said:
Thanks @NavyHoops. First 150 to be fully qualified? Anyway, DS application to USNA is now complete. One lingering question I have is: were there fully qualified with a nom that eventually didnt receive appointment?
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It’s already been mentioned, but it cannot be overstated enough: keep working back up plans. While a nom is encouraging, it’s not the end. It is what keeps a student in the competition, at this point. But not everyone with a nom will receive an appointment. Dont be caught without a plan B. It happens every. Single. Year.
 
Capt MJ said:
Any time between now and usually mid-April. If your DS has been found fully qualified (USNA typically does not inform the candidate) and has a nom, any flavor, they are in the pool of eligible candidates being considered for an appointment.

At this time of year, thousands of bits of data, hundreds of slates and other candidate info are all surging into Admissions - which does not have a staff of hundreds. There are many parallel and interconnecting processes to review, evaluate, decide, QA, finalize an offer of appointment.

Since the “nom bucket” that contains all fully qualified candidates with MOC noms not being offered the appointment being charged to the MOC is still filling up, logic dictates until all slates and candidate applications are in, you can’t finalize a list of candidates drawn from this nom bucket.
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I like to image that there is a massive room with a huge wall size board, and every candidate has a 3x5 card of information pinned to it. A group of people look over the whole thing and move people around in and out of acceptance/rejection as necessary. Yes, I realize it is probably done by computer instead, but that's just not as amusing to imagine.

Of course, I wonder if that's how they did it back before computers were widely used.
 
Thegirlinthefireplace said:
I like to image that there is a massive room with a huge wall size board, and every candidate has a 3x5 card of information pinned to it. A group of people look over the whole thing and move people around in and out of acceptance/rejection as necessary. Yes, I realize it is probably done by computer instead, but that's just not as amusing to imagine.

Of course, I wonder if that's how they did it back before computers were widely used.
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There is a USNA Admissions video that has been shared before. It shows the board, sitting around a table, candidate folders in front of them. They have wooden blocks with red and green ends. As candidates are presented they stand up their blocks with their vote.
 
justdoit19 said:
It’s already been mentioned, but it cannot be overstated enough: keep working back up plans. While a nom is encouraging, it’s not the end. It is what keeps a student in the competition, at this point. But not everyone with a nom will receive an appointment. Dont be caught without a plan B. It happens every. Single. Year.
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Thegirlinthefireplace said:
I like to image that there is a massive room with a huge wall size board, and every candidate has a 3x5 card of information pinned to it. A group of people look over the whole thing and move people around in and out of acceptance/rejection as necessary. Yes, I realize it is probably done by computer instead, but that's just not as amusing to imagine.

Of course, I wonder if that's how they did it back before computers were widely used.
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Now, I want you to treat this as a word problem - what would be the area in square feet of all those thousands (look for numbers online at official sources) of 3x5 inch cards. How big a wall are we talking about?

I always envisioned a massive digital dartboard…
 
Capt MJ said:
Now, I want you to treat this as a word problem - what would be the area in square feet of all those thousands (look for numbers online at official sources) of 3x5 inch cards. How big a wall are we talking about?

I always envisioned a massive digital dartboard…
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lol I used to do math accurately. I am coming up with 104 square feet for every 1,000 applicants.

In my head, without computer - if I am wrong. ;)
 
Oh thank you! I will search for that. I'm not sure how I've missed it.
USMCfam said:
There is a USNA Admissions video that has been shared before. It shows the board, sitting around a table, candidate folders in front of them. They have wooden blocks with red and green ends. As candidates are presented they stand up their blocks with their
Click to expand...
 
Capt MJ said:
Now, I want you to treat this as a word problem - what would be the area in square feet of all those thousands (look for numbers online at official sources) of 3x5 inch cards. How big a wall are we talking about?

I always envisioned a massive digital dartboard…
Click to expand...
A1Janitor said:
lol I used to do math accurately. I am coming up with 104 square feet for every 1,000 applicants.

In my head, without computer - if I am wrong. ;)
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Pretty spot on actually A1 Janitor. It would be about 417 square feet for 4,000 applicants. We might need a ladder or realistically a cherry picker so that AOs could go up to read the cards at the top. 3x5 cards will mean small print for stats and ECs, but at least DodMERB and Nomination could be a check mark.

Of course, once you bring the ladder or cherry picker into the equation, we're talking training and possibly hazard pay for the AOs. Computers are probably much better and safer.

Lastly, on the dart board idea. There's a conspiracy theory going around among those of us applying to college that it's exactly how admissions decides, since sometimes decisions seem so random lol.
 
During BGO training this summer they did a mock admissions board and it involved the stories green and red wooden blocks.
 
Remember that admissions is really agreeing to a score and voting yes/no. What USNA does not show is the Noms and Appointments Committee, which USNA has not released a video on. It’s where the magic happens. To the whole index card thing… no idea how it’s done, but that is the theme of it. Probably when I applied it was more than likely manual with some type of system. A really large puzzle.
 
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