Arizona, how competitive is it for nominations?

Heatherg21

Heatherg21

USNA '24 Mom BGO Bacon Lover Dog Lover
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Dear Sir or Ma'am,
Our son is in process of completing application for USNA 2024. He is also seeking nominations from all available sources here in Arizona as well as VP. We are definitely small and rural here in extreme Southern AZ. I have read about some districts and states being more competitive than others, and I am curious if anyone has any input on where Arizona fits in.
Of course I understand this is a crazy process and just completing applications is a sign of determination. He is applying to all 4 academies as well as NROTC George Washington University.
I have a feeling the process has changed a bit since my Dad and Grandfather did it (Class of '68 and '39 respectively)
Thank you for any input, and good luck to all candidates and parents.
 
There are many threads re competitiveness of districts. Some are clearly more so than others, for various reasons. But from a practical standpoint, if there’s just one person — one! — who has better credentials than you, then you should consider it a competitive district. Doesn’t mean you won’t get in if you’re not at the top of the list. But it does make your district competitive.
 
MidCakePa said:
There are many threads re competitiveness of districts. Some are clearly more so than others, for various reasons. But from a practical standpoint, if there’s just one person — one! — who has better credentials than you, then you should consider it a competitive district. Doesn’t mean you won’t get in if you’re not at the top of the list. But it does make your district competitive.
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Understood, thank you sir, for your reply. I should just let the chips fall where they will, too many unknown factors to figure it all out. He has done the work to be competitive, we shall see how it goes.
 
I'm sure Admissions can tell exactly how many candidates there are from each District, but it isn't something that is published (or at least as far as I know). There are a lot of comments made, on this Forum and elsewhere about relative competitiveness , and as Midcakes points out, any District with one person more qualified than you is competitive. That said, it is widely recognized that the number of candidates, and competitiveness is often driven by proximity to the Naval Academy and other Navy bases, and corresponding awareness of the USNA and the Navy. Areas like San Diego, Florida, Northern Virginia, DC etc. are probably the "most" competitive for USNA. I wouldn't expect Arizona to be real competitive, unless there is a large and visible contingent of former Navy there.
 
Sir, thank you for the insight as well. I was sort of thinking along those lines, contrary to what George Strait says, we don't have ocean front property in AZ. The academies do a good job of holding seminars, we have attended as many as possible since his 8th grade year, so I assume there are some who have learned about the opportunity and will give him stiff competition. I will just continue to support him in the process. Having these forums and others as well as very responsive BGO's sure helps wade through it all. I was laughing last night thinking that anyone who completes apps to all 4 academies should get a bonus point just for getting through them! That in itself shows dedication. But, just jesting of course.
Thank you for the insight.
 
We are in AZ (Scottsdale at the time), and our son received an appointment to USNA in 2015 (commissioned from USMA, though, last month). We attended an info session hosted by Navy during his senior year of HS and the conference space was packed (I’m guessing over 100 attendees). I don’t know how this compares to areas near academies, but the Navy reps did not have enough handouts for everyone who showed up. As noted by others, though, the number of applicants has zero bearing on any individual’s competitiveness.
 
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VelveteenR, Thank you for the information, we were at the same conference, and yes it was packed. I am just going to let my anxiety go away and support him while he pursues this. He has done the work and will now just put the best he can into the packet and interviews. Congrats to your Mid and you!
 
If the conference you attended was packed, that should give you some indication of interest. I don’t think USNA is exactly unknown in AZ. Your son is only competing against those in your district for a congressional nom. His BGO should be able to give him a general idea of how competitive he is in your district but, again, all he can do is put his best application together and let the chips fall where they may. That’s all he or any applicant can do. Anything else is noise.
 
VelveteenR said:
I don’t know how this compares to areas near academies, but the Navy reps did not have enough handouts for everyone who showed up.
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The lack of handouts has nothing to do with how many apply, or how competitive an area is. It is often difficult to get a supply from Admissions. I don't think it is a high priority budget item.

VelveteenR said:
His BGO should be able to give him a general idea of how competitive he is in your district but, again, all he can do is put his best application together and let the chips fall where they may.
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Please don't ask your BGO to give an idea how competitive you are. We don't see the whole application and don't know. Most BGO's will make you feel good and give you encouraging words, but realistically, we 1) don't see your entire package, 2) see only a handful of the candidates , and if you have multiple BGO's in a District, have no idea how good the other candidates are, and 3) while we are well versed in what USNA is looking for, we all have our biases in what's really important.
 
Old Navy BGO said:
VelveteenR said:
I don’t know how this compares to areas near academies, but the Navy reps did not have enough handouts for everyone who showed up.
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The lack of handouts has nothing to do with how many apply, or how competitive an area is. It is often difficult to get a supply from Admissions. I don't think it is a high priority budget item.
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Just did a BGO event at the Boys State where I was on staff and we had just about NO handouts which absolutely confounded us. We even had a Field Admissions rep - an active duty admissions person and even she didn't have any "stuff". Budgets are tight and they really aren't putting much into hard copy that the candidates can get online.
 
Competitiveness has two aspects - competition to win the district and competition to get a nomination.

I generally view a competitive district as one that has more competitive candidates than nominations available. Every year there are qualified candidates without nominations because of the number of applicants in a district.
 
Did I miss something? Aren't there 5 service academies if applying to all? One of which allows commissioning into any of the uniformed forces (which includes NOAA and I think HHS).
 
SDMom2 said:
Did I miss something? Aren't there 5 service academies if applying to all? One of which allows commissioning into any of the uniformed forces (which includes NOAA and I think HHS).
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USMA, USNA, USAFA, USMMA are required to use the nomination system. USCGA is not. An interesting anomaly for USMMA is that noms can be requested from other elected representatives in the state, not just your District.

The 7 uniformed services are USA, USN, USMC, USAF, USCG, NOAA, USPHS. The 5 armed services are the first 5. In a nutshell, USMMA grads either commission into the Navy Reserve with a service obligation and work in the maritime industry (specifics on their website) or they can apply to commission into one of the 5 armed services, NOAA, and I’m not sure about USPHS, since that is an entirely different professional field.
 
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He is applying to USNA, USMA, USAFA and USMMA. What has been a bit of a surprise is that when we requested nomination packets from out of district for USMMA, 2 of the Congressional offices have declined, said they know that they could nominate out of district but choose not to. He is working his way through the others, we shall see what happens.
On a side note, he just got back from Boy's State and what an experience that was. Great mentors, counselors and new friends. He really did love it and made some great connections. What a great opportunity the Legion offers, and how amazing the counselors are to volunteer their time and mentor these young men.
 
Heatherg21 said:
What has been a bit of a surprise is that when we requested nomination packets from out of district for USMMA, 2 of the Congressional offices have declined, said they know that they could nominate out of district but choose not to. He is working his way through the others, we shall see what happen
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Shouldn't be a suprise at all.. I'm sure the rule is in place to create flexibility to admit more candidates from if there isn't anyone applying from a particular district, but the Representative is elected to serve his/her District and would certainly appoint someone from within the District than someone outside.
 
My comment about the handouts was that the rep said he was surprised at the turnout and didn’t have enough handouts for everyone so requested that only one be taken per family.

I don’t think USMMA is high on the list in AZ as our son was offered one of our senator’s principal noms for USMMA if he wanted it — and he hadn’t even applied.
 
VelveteenR said:
I don’t think USMMA is high on the list in AZ as our son was offered one of our senator’s principal noms for USMMA if he wanted it — and he hadn’t even applied.
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USMMA is a great program, and I suspect it is under recognized in AZ and place like the Midwest. There are a few places in the US where nominations for USNA go unused sometimes, and suspect the same is true for USMMA. I suspect that inability to fill a position at any Service Academy is something of an embarrassment to the State, so the MOC will try to "recruit:" good candidates.
 
I understand a congress person wanting to serve their district's constituents first, I was just a little surprised they wouldn't even accept an application. I likewise didn't think USMMA was high on a lot of people's radar here in AZ. Thank you Old Navy BGO for your insight.
 
Heatherg21 said:
Dear Sir or Ma'am,
Our son is in process of completing application for USNA 2024. He is also seeking nominations from all available sources here in Arizona as well as VP. We are definitely small and rural here in extreme Southern AZ. I have read about some districts and states being more competitive than others, and I am curious if anyone has any input on where Arizona fits in.
Of course I understand this is a crazy process and just completing applications is a sign of determination. He is applying to all 4 academies as well as NROTC George Washington University.
I have a feeling the process has changed a bit since my Dad and Grandfather did it (Class of '68 and '39 respectively)
Thank you for any input, and good luck to all candidates and parents.
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If you’re applying from a place in rural AZ it will not be nearly as competitive as it would be in somewhere like urban Texas, New York, etc... to give you an idea, I applied last year from Las Vegas and I think something like only 25-30 other people in my area had gotten to the stage where they finished their nomination applications, not that it’s not an accomplishment to get in either way, just not the heavy competition some people face. Also, I wouldn’t worry about what to ask/what not to ask a BGO, those guys are there to make you look good. They are the human interaction aspect of the application, so just being a good, likeable human is really all there is to worry about with that, and they are certainly there to answer any questions you have too, including how competitive it is.
 
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