I know that I still have lots of time to prepare, as I;'m only a Freshman, but I live in a pretty competitive district, due to a a big Navy base in my district, I want to attend USMA, but will likely apply to USNa as well, anything I can do to make myself a more competitive candidate than the average, Community Service, Debate, all that. And can someone clarify, is it only one person nominated per SA, or for all SAs as a whole?
Competitive District
- Thread starter skr002
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It will be helpful to go read the Sticky post at the very top of the Nominations forum here on SAF to learn the nom basics.
And for deeper reading about all the nom flavors available, their sources and the numbers, see:
https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33213.pdf
Senators and Representatives can each have 5 midshipmen or cadets at an SA, that is, 5 appointments “charged” to their District or State. That means 1-2 vacancies open up each year. They can submit a slate (list of nominees) of up to 10 names for each available vacancy. Fully qualified nominees on those slates who aren’t chosen for an appointment aren’t yet dead in the water; the SA has further options to choose from that group. If you do your research as suggested above, you’ll be much farther along.
Your best first step, if you haven’t done so already, is go to the primary source, the sa.edu of your choice, and read every page, drop down, link and hamburger menu item. Most answers are there.
And, don’t overthink the competition from the “big Navy base in my District.” Candidates with military parents often meet the criteria for Presidential noms; the SA has more flexibility in where to charge an appointment down the road. Many of those military families may reside off-base in an adjacent District, so they would not be a factor in your District. Additionally, many military families are only in your state and District due to military orders as transient military personnel. Their legal state of residence is elsewhere, and their sons or daughters would be applying to those elected officials.
During this process you will realize there is much you don’t have control over, so it is a waste of time and energy to put too much thought into it.