National Waitlist.

tblant1991

5-Year Member
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Nov 24, 2010
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7
I received a letter today informing me that I am fully qualified and have been placed on the National Waitlist for the class of 2015. Could anyone let me know what this entails? Of course, I'm curious about what my chances are. The letter was dated three days before the date on another letter, one informing me that I have received my congressman's nomination. Would it be too much to assume that I was placed on the Waitlist because I had not yet received a nomination? The only info I've found thus far is vague at best, so I appreciate any insight on the matter.
 
Aside from being triple qualified, I'm currently a contracted Army ROTC cadet, second year. I avidly participate within the program, I've received numerous awards for my hard work. My current college gpa is right at a B+. I'm in excellent physical condition I max PT tests quite often. I'm well rounded as far as High School academics/activities goes. I want to know more about what it means to be on the national waitlist such as why a person is on the list to begin with. Thanks for the info.
 
I received a letter today informing me that I am fully qualified and have been placed on the National Waitlist for the class of 2015. Could anyone let me know what this entails? Of course, I'm curious about what my chances are. The letter was dated three days before the date on another letter, one informing me that I have received my congressman's nomination. Would it be too much to assume that I was placed on the Waitlist because I had not yet received a nomination? The only info I've found thus far is vague at best, so I appreciate any insight on the matter.

My guess would be that your MOC provided a principal nominee (and you are not it) so they have appointed the qualified principal nominee and put the rest of the slate on the NWL. There are other scenarios but that's the most likely given the timing. If the MOC had a competitive slate it is unlikely that they would put you on the NWL this quickly because they typically wait to evaluate every file on the slate to determine who gets the appointment and it is highly unlikely that every file on the slate is 100% complete at this time. The timing suggests the slate went in with a principal nominee and all the Academy had to do was look to ensure that candidate was qualified.

I suggest you update your file with any additional accomplishments in order to increase your WCS (thereby increasing your place on the NWL). A great number of appointments come from the NWL so do not lose hope. The principal may decline (sometimes they get more than one appointment and select another Academy or even against an Academy altogether) and/or the strength of your application may have you high enough on the NWL to gain an appointment.
 
On the NWL just means that if you're finally appointed, you're not going to take any of your nominator's quota.

MOC's often nominate more applicants than the actually slot(s) they have. So if they have 1 slot, they can nominate max 10 applicants. Out of the 10, 1 will be appointed using the MOC's slot (if qualified). The remaining 9 will also go through the qualification process. If any of them are fully qualified, they go on the NWL.

I remember reading that the total nomination slots (military+civilian) are about 850. The remaining appointments, I assume, will come off of the NWL.

Anyone correct me if any of this is inaccurate.
 
On the NWL just means that if you're finally appointed, you're not going to take any of your nominator's quota.

MOC's often nominate more applicants than the actually slot(s) they have. So if they have 1 slot, they can nominate max 10 applicants. Out of the 10, 1 will be appointed using the MOC's slot (if qualified). The remaining 9 will also go through the qualification process. If any of them are fully qualified, they go on the NWL.

I remember reading that the total nomination slots (military+civilian) are about 850. The remaining appointments, I assume, will come off of the NWL.

Anyone correct me if any of this is inaccurate.

Sometimes the NWL candidate may end up going against the MOC quota. It depends on a great number of variables but one example might be when the initially appointed candidate turns an appointment down (pulling the 2nd on the slate for that MOC - essentially taking them off the NWL and back onto the MOC charge). Or if the initially appointed MOC candidate is injured or otherwise becomes ineligible.

Essentially, if a candidate is on the NWL, they are not the top candidate on the MOC slate (either MOC had a Principal nominee or the WCS was not #1 on the slate). They now compete against all the others that were not top on their own MOC slate. These candidates are placed on the NWL in order of WCS and the Academy will issue appointments from the NWL in order of merit until the class is full. That is why I suggest continuing to update your file to increase your WCS (and move up the NWL).
 
Just to be clear, my MOC and senators only use competitive nominations. I was placed on the NWL before my MOC announced nominees. I have interviewed with only one senator at this time and he has not announced his nominees. So what now? Thanks for the info.
 
Apparently, WP knows who to appoint from your district to take your MOC's slot. This situation does seem a little tricky. You may want to speak to them directly.
 
Just to be clear, my MOC and senators only use competitive nominations. I was placed on the NWL before my MOC announced nominees. I have interviewed with only one senator at this time and he has not announced his nominees. So what now? Thanks for the info.

I'll go with the optimist prediction and say yes, you should be in with the dates you mentioned and their pre-Thanksgiving mailings. That is still early in the process.

I'd call your regional rep and ask him, that will give you another blip on the radar and maybe get you more info on your status.

Congratulations!
 
I was sort of guessing that being placed on the NWL this early was a good sign, I'm just trying to not get a big head over the situation. I completed my file several months ago mainly because I didn't know when to get it done, but that turned out to not be such a bad thing. Thanks for the information thus far, I appreciate any further direction.
 
I've been told that West Point takes into consideration the quality each MOC, in terms of rigorousness. (Percentage of nominees who graduate). That should be a factor if you're on the NWL.
 
My son was placed on the NWL in late September. He received his appointment in the mail today (11/29/10), from his Presidential nomination. :smile:
 
How would one know if he or she is the principal nominee? Would the letter let you know?
 
Just a question. Admissions doesn't put you on the NWL until they feel that you are triple qualified, am I correct? And the only time you will know if you are triple qualified or not is if they send you the 3Q letter, correct?
 
Just a question. Admissions doesn't put you on the NWL until they feel that you are triple qualified, am I correct? And the only time you will know if you are triple qualified or not is if they send you the 3Q letter, correct?

I just got notified that I am fully qualified and on the NWL. I never got a 3Q'd letter.
 
I just got notified that I am fully qualified and on the NWL. I never got a 3Q'd letter.

To me, the 3Q'd letter would be the fully qualified letter, haha.

Thank you for the input though.
 
My daughter is a very competitive candidate..none of our MOC's do primary nom's but submit a competitive slate. She has received nominations from both senators and our congresswoman so now has a total of 3. She was not the primary candidate for any, which was a bit surprising because our state is small and not many apply to West Point. It just happened to be very competitive this year. She attended SLS, has a 98+gpa, 1910 sats, loads of varsity letters, 2 captains, student council treasurer, model un, and lots of other extras. We had heard she barely missed the cutoff for receiving an LOA, just because of how strict it was this year. I think i have final gotten a handle on how this confusing process works with the NWL etc. My question is, does it help her out in any way that she received all 3 nominations, or now that she will apparently go to NWL, will it be a roll of the dice either way whether you have one or 3??
 
I'm sort of in the same boat here. Heard back from my congressman November 24 stating that I had been nominated and then a letter on November 30 from admissions stating I had been found fully qualified and placed on the NWL. Still slightly confused about everything but am taking that as a fairly good sign (I hope).

Also, the letter said that I needed to send in my 7th semester transcript once that was available. Except my school runs on trimesters and we just finished our 10th trimester. I asked my counselor and he said that we could go ahead and send in my updated transcript even though I've heard some colleges won't accept the 10th trimester reports as equal to the 7th semester and instead require you provide the 11th trimester before they're equal. (I hope that made sense). Does anyone have any idea how WP looks at trimester vs. semester transcripts?
 
I'm sort of in the same boat here. Heard back from my congressman November 24 stating that I had been nominated and then a letter on November 30 from admissions stating I had been found fully qualified and placed on the NWL. Still slightly confused about everything but am taking that as a fairly good sign (I hope).

Also, the letter said that I needed to send in my 7th semester transcript once that was available. Except my school runs on trimesters and we just finished our 10th trimester. I asked my counselor and he said that we could go ahead and send in my updated transcript even though I've heard some colleges won't accept the 10th trimester reports as equal to the 7th semester and instead require you provide the 11th trimester before they're equal. (I hope that made sense). Does anyone have any idea how WP looks at trimester vs. semester transcripts?

My school also has trimesters. To be safe, I'm going to send in my transcripts now (10 semesters) and if they require it, the 11th semester when they are ready.
 
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