Advantages to Early Filing

For this latest class (2022), the first one to post an accepted Offer of Appointment here was;

TechFlier7/self/LOA/September 18th/ Accepted/Presidential Nomination/Direct Appoint/State of California
Presidential Nom - so is this some Admiral's kid?
One of my BGO candidates for this cycle is the daughter of a retired USMC Master Sgt and she'll be eligible for a Presidential. When SonOfOldRetSWO applied, he had a Presidential as one of his noms.
 
What are the advantages to submitting your complete application in August vs October/November? I have read constantly that many people have already submitted their applications or are waiting on one last piece. I’m curious to know if early filing would give a huge advantage in the selection process. Or would it be better to take another month to train for the CFA, take a couple more weeks to double and triple check your essays, etc. I’ve heard the admissions board won’t start looking at files until the October time frame. Let me know your thought...


I think the key is starting your application early. If you have your application ready, why wait? Get it in.

If you haven’t started, it might be late already.

If you start early, you have time for unknowns like can’t get recommendations, can’t find BGO, school lost your transcript, missed ACT/SAT exams or not happy with the results and need a retake, long wait for DODMERB appointments/results, busy senior year with sports and other activities- less time for a stellar application. You should start your application fall/winter jr. year with SAT/ACT exams, talking to your teachers about recommendations, securing the recommendations before the jr. year is over.

About applying early:

I might be completely off, but i believe in numbers.

like with any workload in any job field with limited resources- this fraction should apply to the rolling admission process:

application review time (time/application)=admission meetings (time)/applications (count).

I assume the Aug-Sep time frame is pretty light with completed applications. When the numerator stays the same (review time), and the denominator increases (applications), the value of the fraction decreases (review time per application). If you are a stellar applicant, your application most likely won’t be overlooked even when thousands of other applications on the table. If you are an average one, you might want the admissions took a good look and didn’t miss any accomplishments.
 
@MoSwimmer66. Why is Rowing the best sports or so good for the MIDN and in the Navy? My DS and I are new to the sports. I have my thoughts why it might be but like to hear from experienced MIDNs and Parents.

Based on the call this Sunday he sounds like he may sign up after Plebe Summer. He got invited by the Coach in March to join the team as Coxswain based on his build, weight, and maybe his athletic and leadership record. He’s a Swimmer and has a slim built, 5’11” 140lbs. According to the Coach that’s what they want from Coxswain. DS said he enjoys the training and Rowing this summer. As long as it doesn’t interfere with the Academics and Company Leadership time, I fully support.
 
Presidential Nom - so is this some Admiral's kid?

Rank itself has nothing to do with Pres noms. Anyone who has a parent who served a certain amount of time as active duty military and/or certain amount of time in drilling reserves is eligible for a nomination. Parent can be officer or enlisted. It's the time served (not rank) that counts -- details are on the USNA.edu website under nominations. Also, Congress (not the SAs) sets the rules for Pres noms.

Note that Pres noms are non-competitive; if your parent meets the requirements, you get a nom. Sometimes, that's all you need. However, FAR MORE people have pres noms than can be allocated to the President. Usually 700-800 noms for 100 slots. So you need to pursue MOC noms as well.

One thing about applying earlier vs. later -- it shows motivation to your BGO. I'm not talking August vs. October. I'm talking fall vs. last week of January. I've had candidates tell me they've already been accepted to X (competitive) school when they've only completed 1/3 of their USNA application. That suggests to me that X school is probably their priority, especially when this conversation occurs in December.
 
We found DoDMERB to be a much easier process in August as opposed to friends experiencing the same process in January and February. I felt like we missed the rush by completing this early. Don't underestimate DoDmerb process or how busy they get later in the process.
 
How does DoDMERB contact someone who is over halfway down with the application. Is it an email or snail mail? When I had my BGO interview he said I was 44% done in the portal, and since then I have had a recommendation submitted by a teacher, which should bump me over 50.
 
You will get an e-mail from DoDMeRB. DS got two inside of 6 hours of each other.

Once you get it I recommend you get on that right away. DS was assigned to an eye clinic that no longer did DoDMeRB exams and a medical facility that only did the exams one day per week. We were able to get a new eye clinic assigned but it took a few days.
 
I agree that you should get on the DoDMERB thing right away. My DS took his sweet time, not paying attention to the time frame they told him in the message.
I think it was something like he had to schedule his exam to be within a certain time (14 days maybe?) and he ended up getting a nasty-gram from them, telling him that they were going to cancel everything if he didn't respond.
He scheduled it and went through with flying colors (on the last day of the time frame), but there was a fair amount of unnecessary scrambling.
Don't make the process more stressful than it already is.
Do what they ask, as soon as they ask.
 
@MoSwimmer66. Why is Rowing the best sports or so good for the MIDN and in the Navy? My DS and I are new to the sports. I have my thoughts why it might be but like to hear from experienced MIDNs and Parents.

Based on the call this Sunday he sounds like he may sign up after Plebe Summer. He got invited by the Coach in March to join the team as Coxswain based on his build, weight, and maybe his athletic and leadership record. He’s a Swimmer and has a slim built, 5’11” 140lbs. According to the Coach that’s what they want from Coxswain. DS said he enjoys the training and Rowing this summer. As long as it doesn’t interfere with the Academics and Company Leadership time, I fully support.

Rowing is a personal bias on my part. That said, it is one of the few collegiate sports where walk-ons are common place. At 5'11 - that's pretty tall - wonder why the coach did not consider him for LightWeight (Male Rowers under 160 lbs at college level). It is a highly disciplined sport - yeah - most people would say all sports are - but rowing is uniquely different as it is highly technical and requires an entire boat to move in unison with perfect technique - not just strength to make the boat move through the water. Plus - USNA's boat house is just fabulous and a bit of an oasis on the Yard.

Good luck to your son at USNA! Go Navy. Beat Army.
 
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