District Competitiveness

Joined
Oct 30, 2018
Messages
26
Hello,

As MOC nominations slowly begin, I was wondering what is considered a “competitive” district? I emailed my District Director and he said our respective district receives around 10 applicants each year for USNA. Is that considered highly competitive?
 
Many will say competitive districts are in areas with high military, government or academy presence: parts of Texas, North Carolina, Colorado, Northern Virginia, for example. They’re not wrong.

But practically speaking, a competitive district is one in which there’s one candidate who is ranked more highly than you on WCS. That’s the person who, with the MOC nomination, will receive offer of appointment. It’s as simple as that. So best advice you’ll hear from the knowledgeable people in this forum is: Just don’t worry about it. Focus on what you can control, which is the strength of your own application.
 
@MidCakePa speaks the truth right there.

The short answer is "Yes, your District is a competitive District". It makes no difference where that District is, just do your best.

From a glass-is-half-full prospective - If you got an interview with an MOC - you are competitive.
Where I live, if you get interviews from both Senators and your District Representative, you can consider yourself very competitive.

I assure you that there are other candidates who were not invited to interviews. Unless they get a POTUS/VPOTUS (or a Supe) nomination, their hopes are already dashed.

Push on.
 
Each 'slate' of nominations is 10 candidates so if your MOC only receives 10 applicants they are virtually assured to receive a nomination [unless obviously unqualified etc.] MOC can also have more than one slate in a given year.

Competitiveness of a district is tied to 2 things: [1] the sheer number of candidates seeking nominations and [2] the overall quality of the schools in that MOC's district. As a very general rule districts in more affluent areas have higher school spending and produce higher SAT scores etc.

Take a look at the high schools in your district [be sure to research congressional district boundaries - they sometimes look funny] and see how they rank in terms of SAT/ACT performance vs state and national average. That will give you some idea.
 
~10 applicants for a district is not a lot. There are some like Northern VA that get 100+. There are some that get 1 or 2. The bottom line is regardless of district, the most competitive district is the one in which you reside.
 
@MidCakePa speaks the truth right there.

The short answer is "Yes, your District is a competitive District". It makes no difference where that District is, just do your best.

From a glass-is-half-full prospective - If you got an interview with an MOC - you are competitive.
Where I live, if you get interviews from both Senators and your District Representative, you can consider yourself very competitive.

I assure you that there are other candidates who were not invited to interviews. Unless they get a POTUS/VPOTUS (or a Supe) nomination, their hopes are already dashed.
In my state, the Senators interview EVERY candidate and this year we have over 330 on tap at last count. As far as I know, all of the house members interview all of their applicants as well. I know that mine does.
 
The short answer is "Yes, your District is a competitive District". It makes no difference where that District is, just do your best.

I agree, this is a frequently asked question on here and applicants are best to assume everything about applying to an SA is a competition and you just never know who/how many are applying in a given year. Since your parents are unlikely to relocate to someplace you think 'less' competitive for a NOM, this isn't something you have any control over. I would also not ask my MOC's office that question either.
 
OldRetSWO said:
In my state, the Senators interview EVERY candidate and this year we have over 330 on tap at last count. As far as I know, all of the house members interview all of their applicants as well. I know that mine does.

I like your State then. They aren't all like that.
 
I have a somewhat related question. You see a general statistic bounced around that about 40% (+/-) 3Q candidates receive appointments. I have no way of knowing if that number is in the ballpark or not but for the sake of this question, I assume it is. Are most of those nominated by MOCs 3Q? Put another way, are many non-3Q candidates getting nominations?
 
The statistic you reference — which is true for USNA, USMA and USAFA — is that 40% - 45% of candidates who are 3Q and have a nomination receive offer of appointment.

As for your questions, I don’t think there’s a way to know the answer in any meaningful way, either for a particular year or district, or in the aggregate nationally. I’m sure it can change dramatically year to year, and I’m sure there are big differences across districts. But yes, you can be sure there are non-3Q candidates who get a nomination, just as there are 3Q candidates who don’t get a nomination.
 
...[be sure to research congressional district boundaries - they sometimes look funny] ...

This makes me laugh. I grew up in Illinois, and the districts are crazy shapes there. One district (Illinois - 4th) joins two otherwise separate areas by connecting them down a highway.
 
+1 to MidCakePa. Think about it. Many nomination applicants haven't even completed their application by the time they interview although they are usually well into it. DoDMERB may not be complete for many, including the waiver process, when choices are made. Leadership, and MOC interview committees, is about making decisions with (some) incomplete information. There will be plenty who are nominated who are not 3Q. I've seen principal nominees "lose" their slot because they end up not being 3Q'ed.
 
I have a somewhat related question. You see a general statistic bounced around that about 40% (+/-) 3Q candidates receive appointments. I have no way of knowing if that number is in the ballpark or not but for the sake of this question, I assume it is. Are most of those nominated by MOCs 3Q? Put another way, are many non-3Q candidates getting nominations?

My DS was not 3Q (ultimate no appointment) until mid-Feb with everything but had nom by hristmad....
 
I have a somewhat related question. You see a general statistic bounced around that about 40% (+/-) 3Q candidates receive appointments. I have no way of knowing if that number is in the ballpark or not but for the sake of this question, I assume it is. Are most of those nominated by MOCs 3Q? Put another way, are many non-3Q candidates getting nominations?

My DS was not 3Q (ultimate no appointment) until mid-Feb with everything but had nom by hristmad....

hristmad is a weird way to spell Christmas ;)
 
10 applicants for a nom would not be considered competitive since each MOC can nominate up to 10 people for each vacancy. That said, the MOC need not nominate all 10. And "around 10" could mean more than ten. Anything more than the minimum creates at least some level of competition.

By comparison, I've read somewhere that certain senators receive up to 600 applications for each slot. Now, not all of those folks will be even remotely competitive for USNA, but you can bet a lot of them are.

As is preached over and over again, all you can do is put together the very best package you can and submit it on time. The rest is largely out of your hands.
 
As is preached over and over again, all you can do is put together the very best package you can and submit it on time. The rest is largely out of your hands.

Can we post this at the top of the page ? While I understand the desire to understand every aspect of the process, I suspect that this Forum creates alot of angst, with Parents and Candidates worrying about matters outside of their control. When I went through the process almost 40 years ago, I (and suspect most, if not all, of my classmates) were blissfully ignorant. We didn't know when others got an LOA, or got appointed, or how Noms and Appointments worked...we submitted our applications, and then sometime in the Spring learned our fate.

This is a great Forum for asking questions, and sometimes entertaining when it digresses to Sea Stories, but the truth is that it all boils down to that one bit of advice ...submit your best package, and wait.
 
@Old Navy BGO I suspect there would still be plenty of angst. It's the nature of the entire college application process for students and parents. The academies just add another layer. There is always going to be "How do I make my application better?"; "What are my chances?"; and "How do nominations work?". Heck! There is already a separate forum to explain nominations and most folks don't even read it (evidently)!
 
I have a somewhat related question. You see a general statistic bounced around that about 40% (+/-) 3Q candidates receive appointments. I have no way of knowing if that number is in the ballpark or not but for the sake of this question, I assume it is. Are most of those nominated by MOCs 3Q? Put another way, are many non-3Q candidates getting nominations?
So look at this another way, more than half of the candidates that are 3q AND have a nom DO NOT earn an appointment!! Just another reason to always work on plan B and C no matter how qualified others say you are..
 
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