Recieved primary nomination, but...

WouldBePlebe

5-Year Member
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Dec 16, 2010
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Hello Everybody,

This year I received a primary nomination to attend USNA from my MOC. There is however, one thing that I fear may keep me out of USNA.

I need to answer yes to both questions "were you arrested, cited, etc" and "were you suspended from high school" because of a fight I was in junior year. I was suspended for four days as a result of the fight and also made a juvenile court appearance. The charges were dropped. This was my only ever run in with the law or school disciplinary action.

Last year I disclosed all relevant information, and USNA sent an email with follow up questions. I promptly responding, answering the questions, and was given a simple "thank you for the quick response, we'll forward this to the character committee" or something to that effect. I waited until April to hear final news from the academy (was 3qd with 2 noms) and recieved a general TWE.

This year, I again have 2 noms, but one of them is a principal nomination. What are the chances that my high school fight keeps me out? If it had been determined disqualifying last year, wouldn't I have gotten a letter specifically stating something to the effect of "sorry, we have determined you are not 'of good moral character'"?

Thanks in advance for any insight.
 
Unsure what to tell you. Did your "scholastically" qualified or Triple Q'ed letter come before or after you provided the explanation for the conduct at issue?
 
I remember getting several repeat "scholastically qualified" letters but I'm pretty sure I got them before submitting the part of my app explaining the issue.
 
You can only answer the questions truthfully and maybe speak to your BGO about it. If it's meant to be, it'll happen.
 
Thank you for the reply. I was hoping somebody who has seen this type of situation before (possible a BGO, Parent, or former candidate) could share their experience with how an isolated incident like this has tended to affect admission.
 
After conveying all information about the incident, would it be appropriate to call or email an admissions counselor to inquire as to whether the character review board nixed my application?
 
Also, would it be appropriate to have the social worker that was assigned to this case provide a character opinion? She saw this incident as a fluke incident and was sure it would not repeat itself (I had to meet with her once a month for 6 months, but the meetings were something of a formality, she was assured of my good character.)

Would other character testimonies be appropriate? I just don't want this one thing from junior year to be what stops me from going to the academy.
 
WoudBe ...just a momentary 3 thoughts:

1. Relative to your initial question about receiving a letter informing you of the "why" you were in fact being sent the TWE, the short version is no. None receive any information on why they are not receiving offer of appointment. I am unaware if your Admissions Rep and/or BGO (I'd bet this person would never receive that in writing ...but perhaps some who are in this role might edify? I would think this might fall under privacy issues.) might have discussed @ that time. I'd speculate at this point, no chance. And there'd be no reason to do so now.

2. While I've no informed idea if you should have your social worker provide a letter speaking to your scenario, my own thought would be ...ask that admissions officer. He will guide you.

3. While you sound like a strong candidate (absent your one "blip" on the negative radar screen), and it is no doubt tempting to conclude your unsuccessful attempt last year (and possibly this one) are a function of that "blip", it might simply be that you were not sufficiently competitive among the applicants. It was readily apparent from a seemingly substantial number of candidates with outstanding profiles this past year, that the competition for traditional positions had escalated.

Now ...that speculation would be unfortunately answered should you again be 3Qed with a PRINCIPAL nom ...and you are again denied. Then you might readily conclude that your abberant moment cost you much.

In any case, learn, grow, pray, hope ...and move on. My own wish and prayer will be that yours will be a positive outcome with a successful 2nd chance.
 
This year, I again have 2 noms, but one of them is a principal nomination. What are the chances that my high school fight keeps me out?
If you were a senior last year, are you now in college? Are you in NROTC? How is your GPA? I think that by re-applying you are definitely demonstrating an interest in the USNA and they might overlook your youthful indiscretion if your current GPA and NROTC recommendations are strong enough.
 
DS almost got into a fight as a sophomore when he stepped up to defend a sophomore girl who was being cruelly and viciously harassed by a couple of jocks. He told them to knock it off, and they finally did, but not before he thought they were about to start beating on him. I'm glad now that nothing happened. He might not have an offer of appointment to the Air Force Academy. I asked him about that, if he would do it again knowing that it might have ended up in a fight that kept him out of the Academy. He said, "Absolutely. It was the right thing to do, dad."
 
If you were a senior last year, are you now in college? Are you in NROTC? How is your GPA? I think that by re-applying you are definitely demonstrating an interest in the USNA and they might overlook your youthful indiscretion if your current GPA and NROTC recommendations are strong enough.

I'm not in NROTC. My GPA is very high (won't know for sure what it is until my final exams are finished and graded). With the principal nom, and the fact that I will be 3Q'd, I would be a lock for admission were it not for this incident.

I guess it comes down to what they decide, its not really in my hands at this point.
 
I'm not in NROTC.
Knowing that you were going to reapply to the USNA and that you had this "issue" that might have affected your appointment last year, why did you choose not to join NROTC? I would think you would need to do everything possible to impress the admissions committee....and that would include getting a recommendation from the Commander of your NROTC unit as opposed to one from a social worker.

FWIW - I'm not sure a candidate that is 3Q'd with a Principal Nom and didn't have an incident on his record would necessarily be a lock for the USNA. Particularly if they chose not to demonstrate their interest in the Navy by joining their college's NROTC unit or enrolled in a college without NROTC. Just an opinion...

Good Luck!
 
I'm not sure a candidate that is 3Q'd with a Principal Nom and didn't have an incident on his record would necessarily be a lock for the USNA.

My opinion, and just that, is indeed this candidate would be a "lock" regardless of ROTC. And I'll stick out my neck some more, and venture even w/ the incident, he is.

Here's hoping I'm more right than not.
 
I really hope you are right too, WhistlePig.

@ aglages : Thank you for the advice. The reason I didn't do NROTC this year was so that I could focus on academics and community service, these things helped me get my principal nom. From the information I've gathered, principal nom + 3q = appt. My main concern is that this rule could be overridden if I was found to not be "of good moral character" because that is a basic eligibility requirement.

In any case, thank you all for your help. I'll come back to this forum and make a new thread if I hear any news from USNA.
 
The reason I didn't do NROTC this year was so that I could focus on academics and community service,
You have your priorities in order. USNA Admissions would not have placed a lot of credit on your having participated in ROTC. Success academically is what gets their attention. The reason to take ROTC would be to have a leg up on your Naval careeer should you not get into USNA. With your principal, it sounds as if you have done everything you can.

Hind sight being 20/20, you should have called Admissions last summer to find out why you were not accepted. If it was because of the fight, you should have asked if reapplying would be a wasted effort.
 
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