@bookreader. You just have to be the best in your district for an Appointment. It is a function of your district competitiveness including social economic and academic competitiveness. If most competitive candidates in your district all maxed out and you lacked one element or two and other kids are presumed to have most perhaps then you could have done more. It’s not the end of the world if you didn’t. There can be other substance that makes you more competitive than the other kid. But it’s a chance you will take.
My kid was also told he didn’t have to have Boys State but they also said it would be nice to have since many kids are doing it. At the time we didn’t know about Boys State but was told about it by West Point RC. DS initially said I won’t go then after coming back from SLE, AFASS, he said I want to go to Boys State. He maxed out in his ECs, CFA, and all else but we also knew that he’s not the only kid who’s maxed out in our district. We live in one of the most competitive districts in the country and many kids are social economically well off so financial support is there. Average SAT in DS district is 1500 and 33/34 ACT. All kids we met at Nom Interview had gone on to Boys State Girls State and were all Eagle Scouts and Gold Awardees. Multiple Nom is virtually impossible where we live. You pick one SA and you only get one SA. We met few kids who had 1600 with super strong ECs and Star Athletes who got accepted to MIT Harvard Yale Princeton, Columbia got turned down from Academies. So if you’re from less competitive district you can get by with less. And that’s an added bonus to your DS/DD and families. And yes DS has near perfect scores in SAT/ACT, ranked 1% of Class, 4 Varsity Sports and Captains, Eagle Scout, Summit Scout, Boys State, School Class President, 20 National Level Awards, has Pilot License, Awards from the Senate/Rep Congressmen, Congressional Gold Medal, and the President, Ambassadors, commanding Generals, CEOs of fortune 100 companies, met them all. Many special youth military awards, many years training and job shadowing with the military. All State Swim Champ, speaks 3 languages and lived in 3 countries, recruited Athlete in Rowing and Rifle Teams with LOAs by USNA, USMA, USAFA, Early Action USCGA, and recruited by top Ivy Programs with AFROTC, AROTC, NROTC during round one. Nevertheless, we were never sure he was good enough nor did he feel that he was qualified enough to be selected as the best candidate from our district. To this day, he is grateful for the Nom selection because so many top candidates were turned down because they didn’t have a Nom. He is very happy at Annapolis and doing very well academically and socially. You just have to be the best candidate in your district for most SA Appointments and even for top civilian school admissions.