Appointment Waves

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Sargrio22

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Oct 3, 2019
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First, I understand there is a large unknown regarding when appointments will be handed out each year. We all know of the first wave in January, but I haven’t been able to find much about when other waves happen other than appointments trickle out until the class is filled.
In addition to getting an offer through an appointment, I know that by law 150 candidates on the NWL will be offered an appointment by WCS. Do we know if the 150 come out in one big wave in later months or gradually over time? Regardless if it’s in one big wave or not, when are the 150 offered an appointment?
Again, I understand there is a lot of unknowns about this, but I’m just asking to see if we do know when it happens.
 
The NWL comes out on a one to one basis. What that means is that west point will originally send out~1200 offers of admission and as those offers are declined, one more spot from the NWL will be offered admission.
So say someone who was originally offered admission chooses to go somewhere else, then the first person on the NWL will be offered admission and so on.

In other words, not everyone on the NWL who gets into West Point is offered admission at the same time and it can happen as early as February or as late as April depending on your spot.
 
So, there is normally a big wave at first--last couple of years it has been mid-January but rumor is later January this year--and then every week the board will meet to issue appointments and they will trickle out without another big push or wave. You will know, probably, by late April. If you expect to hear nothing before late April, you will have an easier time waiting.
 
USMACandidate123 said:
The NWL comes out on a one to one basis. What that means is that west point will originally send out~1200 offers of admission and as those offers are declined, one more spot from the NWL will be offered admission.
So say someone who was originally offered admission chooses to go somewhere else, then the first person on the NWL will be offered admission and so on.

In other words, not everyone on the NWL who gets into West Point is offered admission at the same time and it can happen as early as February or as late as April depending on your spot.
Click to expand...

I don’t think that’s the way the NWL works.

The NWL as it pertains to the USMA isn’t like the wait list of civilian schools that select kids off the wait list to fill a class when they have kids who decline offers of admission.

There must be 150 kids appointed off the NWL by order of WCS. These are kids who got a MOC nom, but the appointment for that MOC got charged to someone else in the district.

Based on your explanation above, what if only 100 kids turn down the offer of appointment? That would mean only 100 kids are taken off the NWL if it’s a one-for-one swap. By law, 150 NWL kids have to be appointed.
 
USMACandidate123 said:
What that means is that west point will originally send out~1200 offers of admission and as those offers are declined, one more spot from the NWL will be offered admission.
Click to expand...
GoCubbies said:
Based on your explanation above, what if only 100 kids turn down the offer of appointment? That would mean only 100 kids are taken off the NWL if it’s a one-for-one swap. By law, 150 NWL kids have to be appointed.
Click to expand...
So, out of the original ~1200 offers, at least 150 of those will be from the NWL right? Then, as offers are declined, other NWL kids will be offered appointments?
 
GoCubbies said:
I don’t think that’s the way the NWL works.

The NWL as it pertains to the USMA isn’t like the wait list of civilian schools that select kids off the wait list to fill a class when they have kids who decline offers of admission.

There must be 150 kids appointed off the NWL by order of WCS. These are kids who got a MOC nom, but the appointment for that MOC got charged to someone else in the district.

Based on your explanation above, what if only 100 kids turn down the offer of appointment? That would mean only 100 kids are taken off the NWL if it’s a one-for-one swap. By law, 150 NWL kids have to be appointed.
Click to expand...
Oh my bad, I had read somewhere that west point offers admission on a 100% yield rate assumption but I must have mixed up the NWL and the typical "waitlist" that USMA uses to fill up their class when people decline appointments, thanks for correcting me.
 
GoCubbies said:
I don’t think that’s the way the NWL works.

The NWL as it pertains to the USMA isn’t like the wait list of civilian schools that select kids off the wait list to fill a class when they have kids who decline offers of admission.

There must be 150 kids appointed off the NWL by order of WCS. These are kids who got a MOC nom, but the appointment for that MOC got charged to someone else in the district.

Based on your explanation above, what if only 100 kids turn down the offer of appointment? That would mean only 100 kids are taken off the NWL if it’s a one-for-one swap. By law, 150 NWL kids have to be appointed.
Click to expand...

Is NWL only for candidates for MOC noms or are service-related noms included?
 
dddad said:
The 150 coming from the NWL are candidates with MOC nominations only.
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I don't think this is correct. My understanding is that a nom is a nom is a nom, no matter the source. Yes, the number of noms that can be charged for Service-connected are limited and it is "better" to get a MOC, but it still gets you in the game. That's why they tell you to apply to all possible sources. DS got the 3Q/NWL letter back in October with only a Presidential before he ever interviewed with MsOC.
 
A nom is indeed a nom, and with a fully qualified app, a candidate is as ready as they can be to be offered an appointment.

But.

Think of it as musical chairs. The SA must have an appropriate appointment authority to slot the candidate against. At some point, Admissions may reach the limit of its appointment authority in each category as they build out the class to the desired target range. The music will stop, and some candidates will be left standing.
 
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Capt MJ said:
A nom is indeed a nom, and with a fully qualified app, a candidate is as ready as they can be to be offered an appointment.

But.

Think of it as musical chairs. The SA must have an appropriate appointment authority to slot the candidate against. At some point, Admissions will reach the limit of its appointment authority in each category as they build out the class to the desired target range. The music will stop, and some candidates will be left standing.
Click to expand...
This is an interesting way of looking at it. I remember musical chairs as a kid. There was always a fight for the last chair!
 
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