Recent content by jl123

USMA is pretty good about letting candidates know they are out of the running by issuing a TWE. They only do that when they are reasonably certain that the candidate will not receive an appointment. If you haven't gotten one, it is likely that admissions is still uncertain about the possibility...

There is no limit to the number of appointees from a congressional district. There is only a limit of 5 that can be charged to that MOC. Others are appointed from the district using the MOC's nomination (or any other nomination) and are charged to one of several other appointment categories.

It is very common for a student to be accepted from a waitlist, or offered an SA appointment, after having committed to a school. After accepting the waitlist offer/SA appointment, just send an email to admissions to withdraw from the school already deposited at, or follow instructions on school...

DO NOT KEEP A PLAN B, unless the school has agreed to be a Plan B. Much discussion on this topic over the years, most recently in the USNA forum. This topic comes up every year. Here is a cut and paste from the last time this came up: Most colleges do not take it lightly when they find out...

The Constitution explicitly designates the President as Commander in Chief. Undermining the lawful orders of the President undermines the Constitution.

She got it absolutely wrong by publicly undermining the chain of command. A military leader's responsibility is to support the legal orders and plans of the chain of command whether or not they agree with those plans. To do otherwise is to violate the oath of office taken upon commissioning...

My 2 cents: I found the military instructors with masters degrees at USMA far better teachers than the PhD civilian instructors. The PhD's may have had more depth in their respective fields and been better researchers, but the military instructors were far better at teaching college level...

A business school classmate told me the advice his father gave him in a similar situation while applying to undergraduate schools. He felt the Harvard admissions office was ignoring him and decided to accept Yale's offer rather than wait on Harvard. His father said, "Don't let some jerks in...

USMA admissions targets 30% scholars. The top 30% at West Point are of comparable academic quality as the top 30% at MIT, Ivies, etc. And yes, a Rhodes Scholarship is a measure of academic quality, as well as other attributes. Differences in rigor usually appear in the non-major courses. Non...

An anecdote on rigor at civilian colleges: A family friend graduated from a prestigious liberal arts college with excellent grades. He explained how he negotiated his grades by seeing the teacher whenever he got less than an A on a test or assignment and was usually able to get the grade raised...

Curriculum measures academic rigor - very few colleges compare to USMA's overall rigor. Rhodes scholarships (and others) measure quality of students. MIT compares favorably with West Point. MIT has had 58 Rhodes scholars. A fine result, but not quite in USMA's league. ;)

Take a look at the number of Rhodes Scholars by school. USMA is #5 with 94 total, behind only Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford. Way ahead of the rest of the Ivies. Dartmouth is #6, with 64 - 30 behind USMA. Also look at core curriculum. At any civilian school, including the Ivies, a...

You are correct. That is a change from the previous policy which had a May 1st deadline. The new policy removes any confusion about double deposits.

Unless they have changed the agreement recently, this is not correct. It is only after May 1st that it is in violation of the agreement. As stated above almost all colleges give until May 1st so there is no real need to accept more than one before May 1st. Some do double deposit to get started...