concernedmom said:
I am just confused why that the letter said to continue seeking nominations from the senator, but the senator disqualified him from that process. The MALO that recently interviewed him had also said to continue trying to get the senator nomination even though he had received a Presidential Nomination. The problem is that one year there were 700 Presidential Nominations with only 100 Presidential Appointments,
The Senator which you elected to office has just done you a terrible injustice. He is incorrect in his assumptions. Maybe a phone call from your MALO to his office might clear things up. Your "numbers" example above is perfect. The President is required by federal law to grant nominations to all sons and daughters of career military personnel, among others. He is also limited by law to only giving 100 appointments from this source. All others go into the national pool. In your example alone, 600 are added to the pool. These alone are much greater than taken from the pool annually from all sources.
Also, Stealth's ALO is making an assumption of which the candidate may end up in the national pool if his nomination is not the primary one which marries a single seat at USAFA to a single primary nomination either as determined by the MOC or the Academy Admissions Office.
As J_A_M has stated above, candidates "drown" in the national pool. It is far better to have a confirmed primary nomination and get an appointment in the initial process. Someone earlier in this thread was incorrectly thinking that the Academys should be sued if the sysem works as advertised and someone is legitimetly elimated in the pool. I think as taxpaying voters who placed these MOCs in office, they have a legal obligation to consider all available candidates in their districts. When they start playing "games", perhaps not understanding the intricates of the process, and candidates lose, they should be held accountable.
I was talking to a candidate a couple of days ago who thought he had it made because he had a NJROTC nomination. Federal law limits this acquistion source to 20 candidates nationwide annually. That makes the 1 in 10 and the 100 in 700 odds look great.
Primary candidate and primary nomination is the one of ten that is either selected by the MOC or, in the case of competitive nominations, the Admissions Office. All others, including even those with LOAs, go into the national pool and get whats left. Federal law is VERY specific as to how these candidates are offered appointments from the pool. Keep in mind the demographics of your district. Being over simplific, there are places in the country where a decent package and a 1300 combined SAT will get a primary nomination. There are other places where the same credentials may not even rate an interview. These latter candidates will be in the national pool.
DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO GET AN EARLY NOMINATION AND STAY OUT OF THE POOL. APPLY FOR EVERY SOURCE AVAILABLE.