Accept Appointment to 2 SA?? Possible?

just throwing this question out there.

can an appointee accept his/her appointments from 2 or even 3 SAs? example USMA, USNA and USAFA? or does the first one he/she accepts notify the other SAs that he has already accepted them? does the computer detect that acceptance and voids the others?

or can he decide to change his/her mind after that first decision?

Sorry, but the value of this question eludes me. It is like kids arguing who would win, Alien or Predator? Or what is faster on a track a greyhound or a cheetah. But the short answer might well be that anyone who is capable of getting appointments to all of the SA's might just have the judgement to know which branch of the military to serve in.

never ever alone said:

just throwing this question out there.

can an appointee accept his/her appointments from 2 or even 3 SAs? example USMA, USNA and USAFA? or does the first one he/she accepts notify the other SAs that he has already accepted them? does the computer detect that acceptance and voids the others?

or can he decide to change his/her mind after that first decision?

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Great questions. I have often wonder what happens in situations like the one you asked. I am not sure what the answer is but hopefully someone will be able to anwer your question.

By accepting the appointment before the deadline, one eliminates a spot that would have been filled by another qualified candidate. There have been appointees who accepted their appointment but did not show up on I-day. Technically, you could but why? There's plenty of time before May 1st to decide.
Unless you're 100% convinced that an SA is where you want to spend the next four years and then serve, do yourself a favor and let someone who is fully committed earn a deserved appointment.

the question was for the kid who wants to serve his/her country as an officer, doesn't care what branch as long as it's a SA, willing to fly planes, serve in the front lines or live on a ship and is willing to put 100% to whatever SA he/she gets into.

example - A gets appointment email to USMA in Feb, clicks accept; last week gets email from USAFA, now 2 friends are also going there as well so A now decides to go there. can he still click accept or will WP already have notified other SAs that A belongs to them?

the question wasn't really about kids arguing whos better or faster or stronger. just a kid who had a change of heart; and in this country the last time i checked it was still legal to do so.

just to make it clear to everyone before i get ganged up on by some people on here. this is just a For MY Information only question and NO, NONE, NADA, ZERO SA slots have been taken by this hypothetical person.

The academies do not share that information. However, it would be proper to call USMA and let them know that the appointee has changed his mind and decided to go somewhere else. In the meantime, it is OK to accept the USAFA appointment.

Insider

You can accept an appointment but if you decide to change your mind, it would be sensible to notify the SA of your change of heart before the deadline so they can offer it to another.
Once you report and get inprocessed, changing your mind won't be as easy.

never ever alone said:

the question was for the kid who wants to serve his/her country as an officer, doesn't care what branch as long as it's a SA, willing to fly planes, serve in the front lines or live on a ship and is willing to put 100% to whatever SA he/she gets into.

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Up to this point the only value to a yes answer would be to aid those who cannot make an informed decision. To which I would say take some time to think and make the informed decision.

example - A gets appointment email to USMA in Feb, clicks accept; last week gets email from USAFA, now 2 friends are also going there as well so A now decides to go there. can he still click accept or will WP already have notified other SAs that A belongs to them?

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So the above is an example of someone who rushed to make an uninformed decision and then wants to reverse it. Further it's someone who lets the actions of others determine his course in life. Take the time necessary to make an informed decision for YOUR life. No more. No less.

the question wasn't really about kids arguing whos better or faster or stronger. Just a kid who had a change of heart; and in this country the last time i checked it was still legal to do so.

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Legal yes. Always wise or even right? No.

All that being said, if you're actually at this point you are still not under any legal obligation to attend any Academy. And if you find yourself here the best course of action is to call admissions to check. This is so odd and unusual I wouldn't trust most folks here to be able to give you a definitive answer, and even then things can always change. It seems to me by accepting appointments to multiple academies you could find yourself in a situation where none of them are actually expecting you to show up, much to your dismay when you report.

Thanks Insider and Icarus - that was the answer I was looking for; not a lecture on dedication, priorities or a lack of and being greedy by taking someone else's slot.

And if that hypothetical person was my DD or DS i would have told him/her to wait for the deadline and decide at that point.

DS has received appointments to USMA, USNA, and USAFA. While the temptation was there to immediately hit that "accept" button when the first portal changed, he did not. He waited because he knew that he had applied to three academies and wanted to be absolutely sure of his decision. He has much more patience than mom, thank goodness. He is now combing over every detail, creating a pro/con spreadsheet, weighing all options. We are not rushing him, although it is very tempting to apply the pressure. This is one of the most difficult decisions he has ever made, and we are all trying to be patient and prayerful while he processes it all. With that said, he will decline two before he hits the "big" accept button, and try to do it in as timely a manner as he can, knowing others are waiting. I'm sure there are several going through this right now, as well.

What an exceptional young man you have raised to have the dilemma of choosing between 3 SAs!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! I know you are extremely proud

sammy said:

DS has received appointments to USMA, USNA, and USAFA. While the temptation was there to immediately hit that "accept" button when the first portal changed, he did not. He waited because he knew that he had applied to three academies and wanted to be absolutely sure of his decision. He has much more patience than mom, thank goodness. He is now combing over every detail, creating a pro/con spreadsheet, weighing all options. We are not rushing him, although it is very tempting to apply the pressure. This is one of the most difficult decisions he has ever made, and we are all trying to be patient and prayerful while he processes it all. With that said, he will decline two before he hits the "big" accept button, and try to do it in as timely a manner as he can, knowing others are waiting. I'm sure there are several going through this right now, as well.

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Congratulations!
Not that it matter but I am wishing he picks USAFA.

kinnem said:

Legal yes. Always wise or even right? No.

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I agree that it is important to weigh all of your options before making any final decisions, however, changing one's mind is natural. It's going to happen whether or not it's beneficial or easy. The important thing is acting on this change of heart. If the kid decides the USAFA is a better choice for him, then so be it! The process to fix the premature acceptance of the USMA appointment is probably less painful than going to USMA for four years and wishing they were at USAFA...

Change of heart is probably not all new to the SA's... after all they do give you up to two years to change your mind about the whole Academy/military thing before you start owing money and time!

sammy said:

DS has received appointments to USMA, USNA, and USAFA. While the temptation was there to immediately hit that "accept" button when the first portal changed, he did not. He waited because he knew that he had applied to three academies and wanted to be absolutely sure of his decision. He has much more patience than mom, thank goodness. He is now combing over every detail, creating a pro/con spreadsheet, weighing all options. We are not rushing him, although it is very tempting to apply the pressure. This is one of the most difficult decisions he has ever made, and we are all trying to be patient and prayerful while he processes it all. With that said, he will decline two before he hits the "big" accept button, and try to do it in as timely a manner as he can, knowing others are waiting. I'm sure there are several going through this right now, as well.

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Congrats to your son, it is quite an achievement. The reason why I made such a snippy reply (Not my typical MO) to the original poster was that I read it to mean what would happen if he was considering accepting multiple appointments. I saw it as a situation that really ought to be understood before doing something like that, it can greatly impact others. The past 2 years, the classes of 2015 and 2016 have been quite small, appointments were precious and thus the idea of accepting multiple appointments as a matter of convenience struck me in the wrong way. (USMA and USNA are still cutting their numbers and this is a very painful process as evidenced at USAFA this past year where they needed to get the Wing from about 4400 to about 4000).

When my DS got his appointment, he was immediately ready to accept that offer, but I told him to give it a couple of days to make sure it was what he wanted before he accepted it. In my mind you have to be sure, it has to be for the right reasons. As a parent of a cadet for the past couple of years, I have seen appointees come home before they inprocess on I-Day, some don't get off buses, more than a few come home during BCT, others find out pretty quickly that Academy life is not for them and resign in the first semester. My point is that such a decision has to be made for the correct reasons and that I really don't think there is any reason to accept an appointment if you are not sure of your decision, especially if it takes opportunity away from someone who greatly desires to be there.

bmw17 said:

I agree that it is important to weigh all of your options before making any final decisions, however, changing one's mind is natural. It's going to happen whether or not it's beneficial or easy. The important thing is acting on this change of heart. If the kid decides the USAFA is a better choice for him, then so be it! The process to fix the premature acceptance of the USMA appointment is probably less painful than going to USMA for four years and wishing they were at USAFA...

Change of heart is probably not all new to the SA's... after all they do give you up to two years to change your mind about the whole Academy/military thing before you start owing money and time!

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I absolutely agree with you. Thought I covered that in the last paragraph of my post but evidently not clearly enough. My point was to make the best possible decision you can make in the time allotted based on all the info one can glean. Sometimes you need all that time. Sometimes you don't. Will there be second guessing and perhaps a change of heart later? Often yes. One way to avoid it is to make the decision but "wear" it for a week (if there is time for that) before acting on or reporting the decision. But there will often be a change of heart and it should be addressed whenever one realizes it.

I really wasn't trying to be harsh, just arguing against premature decisions or avoiding/delaying decisions.

kinnem said:

I absolutely agree with you. Thought I covered that in the last paragraph of my post but evidently not clearly enough. My point was to make the best possible decision you can make in the time allotted based on all the info one can glean. Sometimes you need all that time. Sometimes you don't. Will there be second guessing and perhaps a change of heart later? Often yes. One way to avoid it is to make the decision but "wear" it for a week (if there is time for that) before acting on or reporting the decision. But there will often be a change of heart and it should be addressed whenever one realizes it.

I really wasn't trying to be harsh, just arguing against premature decisions or avoiding/delaying decisions.

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I agree with your point. It might sound harsh but it is not, recently I visited a boy from our hometown at the West Point Cemetery. When you make a decision to serve, understand what it means, really try to understand it, even though it is abstract to a young person. When you accept a life in the profession of arms, it has meaning. There is quite a bit of difference between the services, so you should consider those things before you accept the appointment, especially since there are literally thousands of others who very much want the opportunity that might be denied to them because someone was holding an appointment for an SA they had little intention of attending. While the system allows someone to accept multiple appointments, and it is possible to withdraw an acceptance, that is not the point at all. People who see this as a theoretical excersize need to understand that it all becomes very real when you show up for I/R-Day, and that your decisions will impact others.

Realize that the question posed, is more "Hypothetical" than realistic. Just like applications to traditional schools, the likelihood of all the schools coming in with approvals at the same time, are slim to none. Chances are, you'll find out weeks or months between one school and/or academy and another. If the question boils down to:

"If I receive an appointment to MORE than one military academy, can I accept both-all 5, and simply just show up for the one I eventually decide on and NOT show up for the other(s)?

I would not try this. While air force, army, navy, coast guard, and merchant marines may not talk to each other that much, unless each appointment was from a different nomination source, your MOC's DO talk to each other. If a senator is told, here are the 4 appointments using your nomination (That require a nomination), and the senator sees the same name on 2 different academies; they will probably contact you or your ALO/MALO/BGO to pursuade you to make a decision. They want to free up a slot for someone else. I find it very difficult for you to say YES to more than one academy and simply leave it YES til june, fill out all the accompanying paperwork once you accept the appointment, and then just show up on "I-Day" and say "SURPRISE: You're the winning academy".

Christcorp said:

Realize that the question posed, is more "Hypothetical" than realistic. Just like applications to traditional schools, the likelihood of all the schools coming in with approvals at the same time, are slim to none. Chances are, you'll find out weeks or months between one school and/or academy and another. If the question boils down to:

"If I receive an appointment to MORE than one military academy, can I accept both-all 5, and simply just show up for the one I eventually decide on and NOT show up for the other(s)?

I would not try this. While air force, army, navy, coast guard, and merchant marines may not talk to each other that much, unless each appointment was from a different nomination source, your MOC's DO talk to each other. If a senator is told, here are the 4 appointments using your nomination (That require a nomination), and the senator sees the same name on 2 different academies; they will probably contact you or your ALO/MALO/BGO to pursuade you to make a decision. They want to free up a slot for someone else. I find it very difficult for you to say YES to more than one academy and simply leave it YES til june, fill out all the accompanying paperwork once you accept the appointment, and then just show up on "I-Day" and say "SURPRISE: You're the winning academy".

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Thanks for the clarity CC.

What an accomplishment!

Sammy - Congratulations to your DS. What an honor. What an awesome accomplishment and how proud you must be! The past few months have convinced me that anyone who can compete and be fully qualified for any of the academies is an outstanding individual. I know I could never compete!