What are considered the "highly competitive districts"?

Mass was the first state that I was a BGO in (over 25 yrs ago) and I was in Western Mass. That area was not especially competitive, schools were OK but average SAT scores were not much above national average and it did not take terrific scores to get a nomination. Later when I lived in NH, my district was quite mixed with a couple of great schools that put out highly qualified applicants and the rest were so-so.
 
Thanks for all the responses. My BGO says Mass is very competitive, so I'm just doing everything I can as a candidate and focusing what I can control. After all, we do have the best school systems in the country. My district is coastal so there is lots of interest in the ocean oriented SA's I'm sure!
 
Just ask your BGO and your local American Legion Office. And even ask the admissions. Sometimes they will tell you. It depends on the person so depends on who you talk to that year. You may get an answer or you may not. They deal with this traffic every year. More important is putting together the most competitive package for yourself. Focus on things you can control. For example, we live in a super competitive district. When we asked, all Academy Admissions, all civilian college Admissions, MOCs, BGO, ALO, WP local advisor, The American Legion all made it very clear that our district is super competitive. Even if we didn’t ask, we knew the district had many top talent. So even without asking, just look around your district and you will have an idea on candidate strengths.
 
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Reading threads like these make me pretty happy I live where I do. In talking with my BGO, he informed me that our local rep. has never had a full docket of nominees for USNA and I believe USMA too based on my interviewer's responses there as well. In northern Minnesota, we have a lot of rural schools that barely have any students that look to go to college, much less SA's, so it is pretty much just a handful of kids from the bigger towns/cities that apply.
 
CrewDad said:
Just ask your BGO and your local American Legion Office. And even ask the admissions. Sometimes they will tell you. It depends on the person so depends on who you talk to that year. You may get an answer or you may not. They deal with this traffic every year. More important is putting together the most competitive package for yourself. Focus on things you can control. For example, we live in a super competitive district. When we asked, all Academy Admissions, all civilian college Admissions, MOCs, BGO, ALO, WP local advisor, The American Legion all made it very clear that our district is super competitive. Even if we didn’t ask, we knew the district had many top talent. So even without asking, just look around your district and you will have an idea on candidate strengths.
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Please drop suggesting talking to the American Legion about this sort of thing. I am a member of the Legion and hold Statewide elected office in the Legion as well as being a trustee of our Boy's State so I'm pretty aware of what the Legion can and can't do. Purely by chance I happen to be in those positions AND ALSO a BGO and SA grad/parent. NONE of the other Legion officials in our state are knowledgeable about the Academies or selection to them. None of the others are on MOC or Senatorial panels.

No disrespect to my fellow Legionaires but this is totally out of our wheelhouse.
 
Understood OldRetSWO! I guess we were fortunate. Our Legionnaire was the sponsor of Boys State and sat on the Committee Chair for SA selection. Another long time Veteran who's been serving the veteran community for 40+ years and closely work with MOCs, district and state levels. Obviously did not give us intelligence on who the best candidates are but were happy to share with us on the process and type of candidates that are successful in their district. We were grateful for this knowledge sharing as we moved into our new community from another competitive military and civilian communities. I believe there is no one formula how people manage this process as long as it is appropriate and fair.
 
OldRetSWO said:
CrewDad said:
Just ask your BGO and your local American Legion Office. And even ask the admissions. Sometimes they will tell you. It depends on the person so depends on who you talk to that year. You may get an answer or you may not. They deal with this traffic every year. More important is putting together the most competitive package for yourself. Focus on things you can control. For example, we live in a super competitive district. When we asked, all Academy Admissions, all civilian college Admissions, MOCs, BGO, ALO, WP local advisor, The American Legion all made it very clear that our district is super competitive. Even if we didn’t ask, we knew the district had many top talent. So even without asking, just look around your district and you will have an idea on candidate strengths.
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Please drop suggesting talking to the American Legion about this sort of thing. I am a member of the Legion and hold Statewide elected office in the Legion as well as being a trustee of our Boy's State so I'm pretty aware of what the Legion can and can't do. Purely by chance I happen to be in those positions AND ALSO a BGO and SA grad/parent. NONE of the other Legion officials in our state are knowledgeable about the Academies or selection to them. None of the others are on MOC or Senatorial panels.

No disrespect to my fellow Legionaires but this is totally out of our wheelhouse.
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Or, applicants can and should gather information and knowledge from every single source possible including the American Legion if applicable in their city/state. Geez.
 
IMHO, I would not suggest spending any time researching this... this is not something that the applicants have any control over and she/he should focus their time on putting together high quality application packages to the MOCs/SAs, putting Plan B/C/D in place, maintaining (or improving) their GPAs and EC involvement, staying in shape, etc.

But, then again, this opinion and $5 might buy you a cup of coffee.
 
FMHS-79 said:
I would not suggest spending any time researching this... this is not something that the applicants have any control over
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NavyHoops said:
The most competitive district is the one you live in... focus on what you can control, things change year to year, put your best package together.
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+ 1 -- You live where you live , and if there is one other candidate better than you in your area -- the area is competitive. For what its worth, USNA Admissions doesn't refer to any area as "more competitive" than any other. There is a recognition that certain regions in the contrary (I forget the exact term they use in briefings, but essentially centered around places where there is a large Navy influence) produce larger numbers of candidates , and one can conclude that means that the quality of the candidate pool is deeper. On the other hand, more candidates may get appoined from the national pool or miscellaneous nomination groups from these areas, so there may be more opportunities as well.

It seems parents on this Forum are frequently looking for specific, black and white answers to the Admissions process. However, the longer I have been involved in the process, the more I recognize that there are no absolutes... there is a reason that the WCS formula is not published. There is no profile that has an absolute certainty of Appointment, and for every rule there is an exception. Thus, the best answer is to focus on what you can control..ie. submitting the best application you can, then moving on to preparing plan B & C.
 
What truly determines a candidate's district? Primary residence? If so, how long must they reside in that district to apply for a nomination? What if a candidate's parents own property in more than one district?
 
Dadx4 said:
What truly determines a candidate's district? Primary residence? If so, how long must they reside in that district to apply for a nomination? What if a candidate's parents own property in more than one district?
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Wherever parents are registered to vote, pay local taxes on a primary residence, etc.
 
Dadx4 said:
What truly determines a candidate's district? Primary residence? If so, how long must they reside in that district to apply for a nomination? What if a candidate's parents own property in more than one district?
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Agree with Capt MJ. This year I did sit on a MOC’s board. We had several candidates who had divorced parents who they split their time with (joint custody). Sometimes both parents resided in the district but for 2 or 3 we had several who had one parent who resided there and another in a neighboring district. They all went with the one where their school was. Honestly the surrounding districts are about the same in competitiveness. Really it comes down to the MOC and their criteria. The MOC wants to represent their constituents as best as possible. We did have two candidates who lived out of state. Their parent(s) are active duty and that district is where their residence (taxes, voting, etc) is. For instance we had a young man who was living in Norfolk with his family. Father is active duty Navy. Dad had that district as his residence but mom is a civilian with where they live as her residence. In this case most MOCs will allow this person to apply in one of these districts, but not both. Norfolk is highly competitive so he chose his father’s residence and the MOC approved that. This is not an uncommon situation and something active duty families deal with and work through.
 
MidCakePa said:
greater competitiveness

Colorado, here, as well. DS's USMA liaison explained overall relative competitiveness of Congressional Districts: take a look at the high schools in any given district. If the highest ranking high schools in the metro area are in that representative's district...there are going to be more kids in AP classes, more kids who have known since freshman year that they are academically in the running for SA. More parents in top school districts know what an SA is and how awesome the education will be. The WP liaison told DS and us in first meeting that DS's district was likely the most competitive district in Colorado for all SA's because 6th has Douglas County and Cherry Creek school districts, consistently the top 2 in our state. Extrapolate that to other states... kids in competitive districts had better keep test prepping, keep foot on the gas because your competitors will be at the high end of the scatter graphs of test scores, GPAs and class rank.
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I'm merely guessing but I expect NC 2, 3, and 7 might be competitive due to the presence of nearby military bases.
 
Over the years, I've had numerous candidates whose parents are either divorced or are married but one is a geographic bachelor. In each case, the mid applies to MOCs outside our area, even though the candidate lives here and goes to school here. The reason is that our area is hyper-competitive. That said, it doesn't always help. I've seen quite a few kids get a nom in a less competitive area but still not receive an appointment. I assume it's because they weren't strong enough to win their slates in the less competitive district and nationally weren't competitive enough to obtain an appointment.

The bottom line is that, if you're a very strong candidate, you'll probably be okay wherever you are. If you're not, it's going to be more of a challenge . . wherever you are.
 
Any votes on the most competitive district in the U.S.? I know the answer that's coming..."the most competitive district is your own." But outside of that, is there a district that tops the charts for competition?
 
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