I just interviewed with 2 senators and 1 congressman. I am glad the interviews are behind me! But I have a specific question that I can't seem to find an answer to on this forum. I realize all the information that I or my high school submits is available to the MOC's but do they communicate with BGO's/ALO's prior to the interviews? Do they have access to all the records that the service academy has? Would they know where a candidate is in the process, in other words medically qualified etc? Was it my responsibility to tell them? There is only so much time when the panel is guiding a 15 minute interview.
How much information do MOC's have?
- Thread starter LOTR2000
- Start date
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2010
- Messages
- 5,808
I have been a BGO for 27 years in 3 different states/4 different congressional districts and in that time, I have NEVER been contacted by an MOC or their committee about one of my candidates.
Nomination and SA applications are separate processes.
MOC's do not have direct access to candidate information collected by service academy admissions. You do not need to keep them informed of your SA file or medical status unless they specifically request.
MOC's do not have direct access to candidate information collected by service academy admissions. You do not need to keep them informed of your SA file or medical status unless they specifically request.
MOCs have separate portals with the Service Academies. In our portal we see basically a spreadsheet of all constituents who have started applications with the academies. We can't see your actual application just that you've at least started one. We can see your status, if you have a Letter of Encouragement, Offer of Appointment, are Disqualified or Request a Medical Waiver (not why just that one has been requested). Each portal slightly varies with each academy and below are the more specifics for each portal as to what we can see:
- For the Air Force Academy we see your contact info, school, race, gender, DOB, ALO info, Test Scores, Medical Status, and Potential/Status with the Academy.
- For the Naval Academy we see your contact info, school, race, gender, DOB, Test Scores, Board Status, Feeder Source, and Offer Status.
- For West Point we see your contact info, school, race, gender, DOB, Potential, and Statuses (CFA, Medical, Academic), and the date you started your application.
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2017
- Messages
- 228
Hello @MOC5th , can you please explain what a "Feeder Source" is? I have never heard of this term and would like to know more. Thanks in advance.
mintyicedtea
Member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2016
- Messages
- 180
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2017
- Messages
- 6,744
In the case of my DS, both Senators and our District Representative were notified of his LOA before he interviewed with any of them.
jaglvr
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2017
- Messages
- 1,600
Possibly prep school, college reap, active duty, etc?
SAparent2023
Member
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2018
- Messages
- 121
Yes, MOC5th, can you explain what is meant by 1) "Potential/Status" - USAFA, 2) "Board Status" - USNA, and 3) "Potential" - USMA?
Most applicant's Feeder source will be left blank if they are applying straight from high school (75%), but if the applicant is at the Prep School (NAPS) or a Foundation school it will tell us that there.
USAFA: Potential/Status is the same column. What I currently see next to our nominations is " undetermined, average, above average, well above average, attending Prep School." This is a direct quote from USAFA explaining this column for our purposes, "The potential rating is only based on the official academic information (grades and test scores) and the candidate’s reported extracurricular activities. Candidates are compared to the candidate pool offered appointments to last year's entering class. Due to application deadlines (31 Jan) many candidates will not have a complete file. Therefore, this rating does not include a holistic review of the qualitative information that eventually is included in a candidate’s complete file. The potential rating also does not include other factors such as needs of the Air Force. If the applicant is currently attending prep school, or if the applicant has been offered an appointment or a position in a prep school, then the applicant's status replaces the potential rating."
USMA: The potential and status columns are 2 separate columns.
- The Potential column ranges from "risk, competitive, qualified, undetermined, disqualified, admissible, candidate withdrawn, usma closed, accepted, declined, offered, usma screen" USMA closed means the person didn't complete their application by the deadline. USMA screen means it was closed by the USMA for "lack of quality".
- The Status column has your CFA (candidate fitness assessment) status, med board status, academic status, and the date you started your application.
- CFA status will say, "mailout sent, tested, disqualified, unknown, qualified"
- MED status will say, "no action, requested waiver, qualified, disqualified, scheduled"
- ACAD status will say, "unresolved, qualified, disqualified"
I appreciate all the feedback. I knew there had to be a way for the MOC's to access this info. It makes sense now that no one asked me about my medical qualification etc. They already knew or were about to know. Would being "medically qualified" in light of other strong application criteria, help a candidate secure a nomination?
FMHS-79
Parent (no longer active on SAF)
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2017
- Messages
- 987
Just my humble opinion, but I would not count on a DoDMERB "Qualified" status being a large differentiation in the MOC assessment process.
USNA Board status is similar and in the early months will be blank or say, "qualified, rejected, deferred" after our Jan 31st deadline for submitting nominations and all the way until the end of May these will switch over to "Fully Qualified Offer of Appointment, Offer Accepted, Offer Declined, Turned Down by USNA"
Agreed, its an area we never ask about in our interview as it can get awkward really quickly asking about your medical history and details associated that may come out. We may ask a question like, "The academy has a grueling schedule with physical and mental demands, how do you think you'll handle those demands?" You could use that as your segway if you feel the need to make it known you're medically cleared, but we often see this status fluctuate when waivers are requested or someone is involved in varsity sports and suffers an injury so we don't give it much weight if someone is disqualified as that could easily change after a waiver request.
Do you have any insight as to the difference between "admissible" and "competitive"? Do most admissible candidates receive an appointment if they are 3Q?
FMHS-79
Parent (no longer active on SAF)
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2017
- Messages
- 987
I'm not sure about USMA, but believe that if an USAFA applicant is determined as "competitive" after review of her/his Pre-Candidate Questionnaire and officially moved into a candidate status. I would also venture a guess that "admissible" would be equivalent to 3Q. It changes a bit from year-to-year and between SAs, but only about half of the 3Q candidates with nominations are offered appointment.
Warning - this is personal speculation, take it for what it is worth...