Are there MOCs who schedule their interviews between the holidays?

H

Hebo

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Oct 25, 2018
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Wondering if anyone knows if there are MOCs who schedule their interviews between Christmas and New Years.

Here is my dilemma. My congressman's deadline for submitting nomination applications is Nov. 30 of each year. He says on his website that he conducts interviews in December and submits a competitive slate. Earlier (before Nov 30) I was unable to connect with his SA nominations coordinator to confirm that they had received my application. Based on suggestions from this forum, I ceased trying to contact him and sent another (duplicate) application via certified mail.

I haven't heard anything. On Saturday I emailed my MOC (based on his constituent contact instructions on his web site - he says he only responds to emails from persons living in his district so I had to put in my zip. I received a automated response that he received my email). I asked if and when he would be scheduling interviews (he leaves Congress on Jan. 3). I know he his busy with the potential government shutdown and transitioning to his new state-elected job.

My issue is this - my grandmother's cremains are scheduled to be entombed with my grandfather's remains at Arlington between Christmas and New Years (took 6 months to get this scheduled). We are thinking now that I may need to stay home in case an interview is scheduled. Not sure how the government shutdown will affect any of this. But it is what it is. I'm just trying to figure out what to do if he does contact me in the next couple of days or if I never hear from him.

It is a fair question to ask if I am even in the running for a nomination. Don't know. All I know is that our MOC has never been able (in his 6 terms) to submit a full slate of 10 for any single vacancy at any SA. Our district is not that competitive. Am I competitive? I think so. I don't want to go posting stats to demonstrate that but I have lots of leadership and would be in the upper 25% of past USNA classes in rank, SAT, and I have a solid CFA.

If our MOC does have interviews - can he do this after Jan 3 (when he leaves office)?

(I hope I don't sound whiney. Just trying to figure the path forward here).
 
First, I suggest you contact the SA coordinator for your MOC. If you can't find that person's info on the website, call your MOC's office in Washington, DC (number will be on-line) and ask for the SA coordinator's contact info. That is your best chance to get an answer to all of your questions.

Second . . . being brutally honest. I would say that the odds of your obtaining an interview are very small as I doubt any MOC committees are planning to meet b/t Christmas and Jan. 1. Note that MOCs aren't required to do interviews. It is certainly possible that, given his imminent departure and the fact your district isn't competitive, the MOC decided to skip the interviews this year and simply make a decision based on the "paper." Thus, you could still be in the running for a nomination.

I would NOT skip the funeral. If needed, you could always do an interview via Skype. While not ideal, it's done with some frequency for all sorts of reasons.

Finally, your current MOC cannot submit a slate after he officially leaves office. He can do it before he leaves or he could leave the decisions on noms to his successor, who would have until Jan. 31 to submit a slate.

A few other options . . . not ideal but possible. You can contact your BGO to see whether your MOC has submitted his noms. BGOs aren't informed of this, but in their system, they see when their candidates have received noms and who they are from. Thus, if your BGO has other candidates in the same MOC's district and at least one of them has received a nom, your BGO would know that and you'd know the slate had been submitted. You could also reach out to USNA Nominations. However, that should be a last resort as they can't have 15,0000+ candidates all contacting them about noms and I'm not even sure they would respond to such a question, especially in December. But if none of the above suggestions pans out, it may be worth a shot.
 
Thank you for your advice and your insight. When I interviewed with my BGO in August, he said he was familiar with our MOC and his process (and he handles other schools in our district). He also said (FWIW) that I was a very strong candidate and he would be "shocked if I didn't get a nomination" based on past years in our state and in my district. He said my MOC interviews all candidates - even those who won't likely be academically qualified. I will contact my BGO and see if he has heard anything from his other candidates. That seems like the thing I can do.

From what I can figure out, this is a very different process from years past, when our MOC always had interviews in Dec. Our MOC is known as very concerned with our community and someone who goes the extra mile for his constituents, so it seems very strange. I don't think I will call USNA about this - I don't think it would do me any good and I might come across as "one of the those guys". My parents told me it would not be good for them do any of the contacting and it's something I have to do. What happens is beyond my control. Who knows, maybe I will hear from my MOC's office today and everything will be cleared up. It's not getting ANY responses from his office and his coordinator that has been frustrating.
 
One other question - I thought I read somewhere on this forum (can't find it now) that an outgoing MOC has until Jan. 21 to submit slate and a continuing member has until Jan 31. Is that right?
 
Hebo said:
From what I can figure out, this is a very different process from years past, when our MOC always had interviews in Dec.
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Things change. People leave office. Procedures change. You have no info to assume anything about this years process. Get off the forum and start working the phones to your MOCs offices, in your state and in DC. You're wasting time here, as only your MOC or BGO can answer most of your questions.
 
usna1985 said:
I doubt any MOC committees are planning to meet b/t Christmas and Jan. 1.
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the two NJ Senators are holding their stragglers/catchups between Christmas and New Years. I didn't help last year and don't know when it was but two years ago, it was in that same timeframe
 
Just to follow up for those who helped me. I did finally manage to get through to my Congressman's nomination staff member. The person who had the job (and who I had the contact numbers/email) quit in October and has literally left the country. The staff member now handling the process is new to this and apologized for not getting back to me on my earlier calls. The Congressman is not doing interviews this year and he will let the applicants know if they have been nominated or not before Christmas. This is a major load off my mind because until now, I didn't have confirmation that they had my materials.
 
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