20% Still 'Undecided' - Looking for discussion on the reasons

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famofmanyotters

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Mar 18, 2020
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I noticed on the appointment thread there are still 20% undecided and a handful of declines or will decline. I personally know of a couple of people still waiting on word from USNA.
There are probably many who have just not updated their status. But for those of you who are still undecided I wondered if you would be willing to share what is holding you back? What will be your deciding factor?
 
In the past, I noticed the undecideds were weighing which SA they wanted to go to or whether they wanted an ROTC path at a good university.
 
Thank you. I did read that from several other threads. I just wondered whether or not there were potential appointments who might be reconsidering a SA? Or maybe other reasons not really discussed yet? Initial parental pressure? Sport recruit going with another college? Etc.
20%+ seems like a lot, but maybe I didn't realize how many students apply to several SA's and then decide on one at the end. My daughter has always only been interested in one SA, so I'm just learning about this.
 
famofmanyotters said:
20%+ seems like a lot
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USCGA (currently 48%) and USMMA (currently 28%) are higher - so for this stage of the game, this is not an alarming or high figure. Each candidate considers something a Plan B - could be any of the 5. I read a post yesterday from a reapplicant who had secured a USMA appointment last year, but wanted USCGA so they didn't accept USMA last year and did self prep instead. Some consider USMMA a plan B to USNA. It really all depends on the student.

In tracking this closely this year, you also see cases where someone updates an appointment thread as undecided, then posts on other appointment threads for different SA and finally lists one as ACCEPT or WILL ACCEPT. They then fail to update the other UNDECIDED posts they left hanging out there on other sub-forums. I suspect if you were to scrub the lists, you could shrink the UNDECIDED count when you see updates on other academy appointment threads.
 
Given that these are top-tier students, many are waiting on decisions from top-tier universities, to include Ivys. Students with bright futures want to see all of their options laid out before them before making this most important of decisions. Ivy Day is coming up in the next two weeks, along with other admissions decisions that have not been rendered yet.
 
This! These candidates tend to have a lot of great choices, so they're taking the time given them to decide -- typically until May 1. No need to rush the decision -- they've earned the right, and it's not affecting anyone else. With all the coronavirus upheaval, I wouldn't be surprised if candidates took even more time than usual to decide.
 
Probably an anomaly here, but I'm a prior who is weeks away from completing a STEM BS. The 4-year commitment that won't count towards my TIS is one of my big hang-ups at the moment. I'm also exploring other options, like my (guard) unit's annual UPT board and also trying (unsuccessfully) to contact a recruiter in order to drop a package for 20OT04.
 
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