Curious...what makes the board chose kids earlier than others for appointments....

A lot of us have been waiting since last fall with completed applications and are being patient with no news is still good news. Amen we made it another day over here!

But out of curiosity what makes the academy or whomever offer appointments to say Johnny Smith in Jan and Joe Jacob in April? I am not speaking about recruited athletes. I am talking about kids who have nominations, high GPAs, high leadership, high volunteering yadda yadda yadda.

I know they review everyone's file very closely but let's say they have sent out all these appointments thus far and get to the last stack of kids and Joe Jacob's file comes out of the stack and is qualified but the appointment spots are gone and he would have been a great choice. Sorry Joe.

Is there some method to this madness? Someone please educate us.

Doesn't happen that way. Remember slates play into this. For USNA to evaluate a slate they have to know who is on it and what their status (3Q, WCS) is. A slate can come in 3 ways... Principal, ranked and unranked. Technically per statute, unlike USMA and USAFA, USNA does not have to appoint a Principal if they are 3Q. It is rare this happens though. Majority of slates are unranked. For USNA to know who the "slate winner" is they need to know who is 3Q and their WCS. Remember there are other appointment sources such as Supt, VP and Presidential too. Also just because someone has an LOA doesn't mean they are in. Some get a medical DQ or fail to secure a nom (a candidate posted this situation just last week).

Also those who get a MOC Nom but aren't slate winners will go to the NWL. This is where they will then start to rank all those on the NWL. USNA will start to send TWEs at the bottom of this list as the class starts to shape up and it's clear they will be below that line.

Very good explanation. That information gets sort of scattered in other threads. Seeing the process in one paragraph makes sense.

How would you know if the slate of which you are a part has been ranked? Only if the MOC actually tells you?

Correct, only if a MOC tells you. Sometimes if a MOC has been in office for a long time a BGO might not know if they consistently use the same type of slate.

anne99 said:

Very good explanation. That information gets sort of scattered in other threads. Seeing the process in one paragraph makes sense.

How would you know if the slate of which you are a part has been ranked? Only if the MOC actually tells you?

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Last year I called our MOC office and asked how many slots were avaiable that year and if they were ranked. The person I spoke with was very sweet, and happily explained that this particular MOC did not rank, but left it up to the USNA to choose the best candidate. You could always try the direct method like I did!

I doubt DS would venture to call to find out and I wouldn't dare butt in to call myself. It would make no difference as to whether he receives an appointment or not. I think it would just add more stress if he found out the slate was ranked and he wasn't the principal. It was just a curiosity on my part.

flying8764 said:

A lot of us have been waiting since last fall with completed applications and are being patient with no news is still good news. Amen we made it another day over here!

But out of curiosity what makes the academy or whomever offer appointments to say Johnny Smith in Jan and Joe Jacob in April? I am not speaking about recruited athletes. I am talking about kids who have nominations, high GPAs, high leadership, high volunteering yadda yadda yadda.

I know they review everyone's file very closely but let's say they have sent out all these appointments thus far and get to the last stack of kids and Joe Jacob's file comes out of the stack and is qualified but the appointment spots are gone and he would have been a great choice. Sorry Joe.

Is there some method to this madness? Someone please educate us.

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Dear flying8764,
The wait is excruciating without a doubt. NavyHoops always gives excellent and knowledgeable responses. Last year, on my DS' first attempt, he received a TWE early April. Once the TWE was received, I always wished he had received the bad news earlier but based on what NavyHoops said, it makes sense why he had to wait that long and it's nice to know they absolutely review every file thoroughly. This year, I really didn't think his application was that much different from last year and he was accepted in early February. The discrepancy between last year and this year in regards to both timelines and final decisions still seem like a mystery to me even with all the explanations. Good luck and I hope your wait is over very soon with EXCELLENT news!!

JTGib13 said:

Dear flying8764,
The wait is excruciating without a doubt. NavyHoops always gives excellent and knowledgeable responses. Last year, on my DS' first attempt, he received a TWE early April. Once the TWE was received, I always wished he had received the bad news earlier but based on what NavyHoops said, it makes sense why he had to wait that long and it's nice to know they absolutely review every file thoroughly. This year, I really didn't think his application was that much different from last year and he was accepted in early February. The discrepancy between last year and this year in regards to both timelines and final decisions still seem like a mystery to me even with all the explanations. Good luck and I hope your wait is over very soon with EXCELLENT news!!

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Congratulations to your DS and kudos to you and the family for your support!