Declined Appointments

[USNA2023Candidate]

Can anyone explain what happens to an appointment that is declined? Is the appointment available to another USNA candidate from that nominating source?

 

[falconchic88]

Not necessarily. The Academy usually has a good grasp on how many will accept appointments, and therefore, they extend more appointment offers than appointment slots available. I think sometimes, if the appointment is declined early enough, admissions can move to next person on the slate, but this doesn't always happen. I have seen cases when a MOC has an appointment declined and the slot ends up as an extra vacancy the next year. This doesn't mean that nobody from the MOCs district/state is appointed, because some could be appointed from the national pool or other sources and not charged to that MOC. Bottom line, unless someone here is in Admissions, we really don't know the answer, and can only go by anecdotal experiences. BGOs may have a better grasp on this?

 

[NavyHoops]

Thad is how I understand it. If declined, admissions could move who they charge that appt to. If there are multiple people who have noms maybe someone moves from another slate to this one, maybe they offer another appointment or maybe it goes unfilled that year. None of us know, it could be any of the scenarios with lots more nuances to it.

 

[OldRetSWO]

Thad is how I understand it. If declined, admissions could move who they charge that appt to. If there are multiple people who have noms maybe someone moves from another slate to this one, maybe they offer another appointment or maybe it goes unfilled that year. None of us know, it could be any of the scenarios with lots more nuances to it.

This nuance was discussed at a BGO training event that I attended and we were told that if they did not move someone else up on the list then they did NOT fill it the next year because that would result (3 yrs down the line) in that MOC having zero vacancies to fill. Basically, they need to manage things so there is one appointment available each year and then there is the additional one every fourth yr. If they rolled the declined appointment into the next yr, they would have two or even three that yr and could have zero in a future yr.

 

[Hashbrowns and eggs]

Thad is how I understand it. If declined, admissions could move who they charge that appt to. If there are multiple people who have noms maybe someone moves from another slate to this one, maybe they offer another appointment or maybe it goes unfilled that year. None of us know, it could be any of the scenarios with lots more nuances to it.

This nuance was discussed at a BGO training event that I attended and we were told that if they did not move someone else up on the list then they did NOT fill it the next year because that would result (3 yrs down the line) in that MOC having zero vacancies to fill. Basically, they need to manage things so there is one appointment available each year and then there is the additional one every fourth yr. If they rolled the declined appointment into the next yr, they would have two or even three that yr and could have zero in a future yr.

So if an MOC has two appointments, are there two separate slates that do not compete? Or is it one massive slate with 20 kids?

 

[Pima]

It is 2 slates of 10 for the MoC. Candidate Smith could be on slate A, and Candidate Jones on slate B, they do not compete for an appointment (charged) on the other's slate.

 

[falconchic88]

Thad is how I understand it. If declined, admissions could move who they charge that appt to. If there are multiple people who have noms maybe someone moves from another slate to this one, maybe they offer another appointment or maybe it goes unfilled that year. None of us know, it could be any of the scenarios with lots more nuances to it.

This nuance was discussed at a BGO training event that I attended and we were told that if they did not move someone else up on the list then they did NOT fill it the next year because that would result (3 yrs down the line) in that MOC having zero vacancies to fill. Basically, they need to manage things so there is one appointment available each year and then there is the additional one every fourth yr. If they rolled the declined appointment into the next yr, they would have two or even three that yr and could have zero in a future yr.

I think it's the MOCs choice whether to fill the slate the next year or not. They know how many vacancies they have, sometimes they choose to fill extra slates, sometimes they don't. Sometimes a charged slot becomes open because someone leaves prior to graduation so there are a number of reasons, including the one discussed above, giving the MOC a chance to nominate two slates in a given year.

 

[USNA2023Candidate]

Thank you to all that responded, I now have a better understanding of this process.