Academy Nomination

A couple of days ago,I received a letter stating that I received a nomination from my represenatative. Although I know this a great, I just wanted to know if it is safe to say that I am likely to get an appointment? Also, I know that each representative can nominate 10 candidates per academy, but how many of those ten are allowed to get an actual appointment?

Thanks in advance,

Leah Smith

The nomination is a "must have", but now you must get the appointment.

Good job and congratulations on the nomination!

Whether or not you get the appointment will first and foremost depend on how your MOC does his/her nominations.

An MOC can pick a principal nominee, that person get's the appointment and the other 9 go into a pool as "qualified alternatives" and fight for an appointment with other "qualified alternatives". They can also rank the entire slate from 1-10 and in the event #1 can't get the appointment or denies it, #2 gets it and so on and so forth.

They can turn in an unranked slate of competitive candidates, the academy will determine which has the higher WCS and the winner gets the appointment, the other 9 going into the pool

As far as I know this is how it works, so if anyone wants to correct me they can.


Whether you will get the appointment will rely entirely on how good you are and how competitive the other nominees on your MOC's slate are, at this point you have no control in whether or not you get accepted, just keep doing good in school and apply for the VP nomination so you can't say that you didn't try everything.

Is there any way to find out what your rank is on the slate or is that completely confidential? Also, in the event that the primary nominee accepts his or her appointment are the other nine offered the chance to go to Prep school?

asko847 said:

Is there any way to find out what your rank is on the slate or is that completely confidential? Also, in the event that the primary nominee accepts his or her appointment are the other nine offered the chance to go to Prep school?

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Okay...in reverse order.

2. No, well, maybe. If your MOC used the "Principal/Alternate" method, then the principal gets the appointment if they meet all the entry requirements. The rest of the nominees are placed into the "qualified alternate" pool. From there they may be selected on their own merits for an appointment later. If they're NOT selected, they are considered for the prep school automatically. Whether or not they're selected, that's up to the academy.

1. I would say NO. My MOC's office will NOT tell folks how they "ranked" other than the person that is named the "Principal" nominee. The rest are simply "nominees." And in truth, unless the "principal/alternate" method is used, "ranking" really doesn't matter.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83

Rank? Depends on if the MOC ranks their slate. Many don't. Many simply give the academy a list of 10 names and says: "Choose One"

Can others on the slate of 10 get an appointment? Yes. Approximately half of the appointments are given out with the academy selecting one from each slate from the MOC. Plus, some from military related nominations like presidentials, ROTC, etc... That leaves around 600 appointments that still need to be filled. The remaining 9 from the slate of 10, who didn't get that "Choose 1" appointment; will all be placed in a National Pool. The academy will choose their remaining 600+/- appointments from this giant national pool.

Is it safe that because you received a nomination, that you'll get an appointment? No, not at all. In all truth, there will be approximately 6,000 individuals who receive nominations. The academy will only give out 1300+/- appointments. That means that 4000+ people with a nomination will NOT receive an appointment. (There's 453 representatives: 10 names each= 4530 nominees; 100 senators is 1000 nominees; approximately 500 presidential nominees; etc...) Many nominees will have more than one nomination, so the total of nominees may not be 6000. Let's say it's only 4000. That's still approximately 2700 who have nominations that don't receive an appointment.

best of luck, and congrats on the nomination. Believe it or not, that is a great accomplishment in itself. mike...

Christcorp said:

The academy will only give out 1300+/- appointments.

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Great post. One small correction; I believe the USAFA actually gives out about 1600 appointments anticipating a "yield" of about 1300+/- on I-Day.

aglages said:

Great post. One small correction; I believe the USAFA actually gives out about 1600 appointments anticipating a "yield" of about 1300+/- on I-Day.

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That is correct. It will be between 1600-1700 most years. With a net of 1300-1400. HOWEVER: With the economy the way it's been, and the large increase in applications for ALL academies, I don't even talk about that any more. I wouldn't be surprised if the academy gives out more throughout the cycle, hoping for commitments. This way they don't risk having a class of 1500.

Okay, thank you all for posting your replies. Now the process makes a lot more sense to me.

Appointment After LOA

My daughter has an LOA and we are thrilled of course. If she gets a candidacy from one of our congress people in early Jan after last weeks last interview.

What would a typical time frame be before a letter would arrive from AF. The letter and the forums implied great tidings but she is driving me crazy. I understand there are no firm answers.

Our congressman's academy liaison said that his nominations would go to AFA in early December and those with an LOA should hear about an appointment in mid-January. I don't know if that's typical or just his experience.