More info for Hold Candidates who are waiting to get in off of the National Alternate List --- I found the below information in the text of a lawsuit against the Academy (Domine v. Kumar, 2012). The facts of the suit are complicated but the information provided by the Director of Admission (Capt. Johnson) gives a really good explanation of how the alternate system works. Basically there are about 30 slots for 250 people who do not get selected as a prinicpal candidate from their state:
"On or about April 1, the USMAA extends an appointments [sic] to the number of alternates on the national alternates list, in the order of merit in accordance with the statutory command of 46 U.S.C. § 51302(d)(3), required to meet its projected yield. This is done to ensure that the USMMA fills its incoming class by the nationally-recognized college acceptance deadline of May 1. The USMMA did not extend any appointments after on or about April 1. The USMAA transitions to its national alternates list in order to enroll the best qualified class. In my experience, as the May 1 national deadline approaches, the longer the USMMA waits to begin extending appointments from the national alternates list, the less likely it will be able to enroll the best qualified candidates off that list. Depending on when an applicant has completed his or her application, as set forth above, a qualified [**10] applicant may have been waiting since as early as October to receive a response to the application. At the same time, it has been my experience that qualified applicants receive offers of admission at other institutions of higher education. The longer the USMMA waits to transition to the national alternates list, the greater the risk of losing that qualified applicant to another institution, many of which require non-refundable deposits as early as March 1. In addition, it has been my experience that the reason many applicants wait until late April to decline an offer of admission to the USMMA is because they are waiting to hear from a competing Service Academy. Consequently, the USMMA moves to the national alternates list on or about April 1 because the USMMA wants to enroll the best qualified incoming class possible from the pool of qualified applicants, and does not want to lose the best qualified candidates to competing institutions. Significantly, if the USMMA did not transition to the national alternates list on or about April 1, it would be at risk of under-enrollment and a less qualified entering class in contravention of 46 U.S.C. § 51302(d)(3).
(Supplemental Declaration of [**11] Captain Robert Johnson, dated July 3, 2012, ("Supplemental Johnson Declaration"), ¶¶ 11-17 (emphasis added).)
This year the national alternates list consisted of 250 qualified applicants. For the Class of 2016, the USMAA extended thirty appointments from the national alternates list, twentyfour of whom accepted by the May 1 deadline. Consistent with the USMMA practice over the last three admission cycles, having achieved its yield for the Class of 2016, the USMMA did not extend any appointments after on or about April 1, despite the fact that six national alternates list appointees declined their appointments. Plaintiffs did not rank among the top thirty on the Class of 2016 national alternates [**13] list.
(Supplemental Johnson Declaration, ¶¶ 18-21.)"