Effects of accepting an appointment

Light8004

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Feb 1, 2021
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Good Morning,

I am writing out with an incredibly fortunate dilemma.

I have already received my appointment to USNA and am planning on accepting it. However, I did want to reach out looking for guidance on a few issues before clicking the green accept button.

1) Would accepting my appointment be equivalent to withdrawing my applications from other schools? I am hoping to maintain a list of possible "plan b" schools for as long as possible in case of a random injury which would medically disqualify me before my I-Day.

2) Also on the notion of "plan b" schools, I have been lucky enough to receive a four year ROTC scholarship to my top choice institution. The deadline to accept this is much earlier than that of my appointment. Can someone opine on how to navigate this aspect?

3) I received a service connected nomination to USNA. What is the proper form for informing my member of congress and senators?

Many thanks for your time. Any help or advice would be much appreciated as I am the first in my family to navigate the academy/ROTC process.

Very respectfully,
Light
 
Congrats on all your successful opportunities! I'll do my best to give you my thoughts (take them or leave them).

1) No. You would not be cancelling all your other applications. Even if you accept, you can always decline at a later time if something else comes along that you like better. A lot of people apply to multiple service academies or regular schools and make changes later in the process.

2) Accept the ROTC scholarship so that it is in the system. You can always cancel that. They have a lot of people who receive multiple opportunities. My kid got his 4-year in January, accepted it and started the DoDMERB portion with his school (he was already a Freshman in college), and was getting everything going to attend NSI and CORTRAMID over the summer when he received his appointment to the Academy in May.

3) Always go for as many nominations as you are qualified to attempt. You provide the Academy with multiple options if you have more than one nomination. Meaning, the Academy can assign you to a nomination slot that may allow them to offer another kid an opportunity who only had one nomination option. But be transparent in your interviews and let the panel know you already have an appointment. If you do decide to cancel your congressional applications, reach out individually to each staff office to let them know. There should be a contact you have available for each one (my kid had staffers at each one he could reach out to for updates).
 
You have to take action on withdrawing from alternate schools. No one does that for you. When you do that is up to you, depending on your risk tolerance. Some pony up non-refundable deposits as the cost of “insurance” and explore getting deferred acceptance for a year. Some withdraw before that point sometime before USNA Induction Day.

You can sit on your various acceptances until you are settled in your own mind about your desired path. Once you are settled, though, get on with it, so all parties can plan accordingly. Observe decision deadlines. Your adult life will be filled with decisions like this. There will be roads not taken you cannot return to. Think through all the tangibles and intangibles, make your decision, and move on.

If you report in to USNA, the NROTC scholarship evaporates.

Your elected officials are informed by the SA of all appointees from your state or District, regardless of nom source. Now, if you have not yet interviewed with your elected officials and are actively applying for a nom from them, but have your appointment offer in hand which usually means you have a nomination already, I recommend consulting with Admissions to see if they want you to continue with any additional nominations. There was a recent discussion on this here in the USNA forum. USNA recommends applicants apply for as many nominations for which they are eligible, which allows USNA flexibility in charging an appointment to non sources. How that applies when you already have an appointment is murky to me. I suspect they will tell you to keep going. Just call your elected official staffer and let them know you have an offer of appointment from USNA.

Once you click the USNA green Accept button, it is not irrevocable. You can later decline if you change your mind. Some click Accept and don’t bother to show up on Induction Day, which I don’t recommend. You can also accept NROTC scholarship and later decline.
 
Good Morning,

I am writing out with an incredibly fortunate dilemma.

I have already received my appointment to USNA and am planning on accepting it. However, I did want to reach out looking for guidance on a few issues before clicking the green accept button.

1) Would accepting my appointment be equivalent to withdrawing my applications from other schools? I am hoping to maintain a list of possible "plan b" schools for as long as possible in case of a random injury which would medically disqualify me before my I-Day.

2) Also on the notion of "plan b" schools, I have been lucky enough to receive a four year ROTC scholarship to my top choice institution. The deadline to accept this is much earlier than that of my appointment. Can someone opine on how to navigate this aspect?

3) I received a service connected nomination to USNA. What is the proper form for informing my member of congress and senators?

Many thanks for your time. Any help or advice would be much appreciated as I am the first in my family to navigate the academy/ROTC process.

Very respectfully,
Light
1- No... Keep all options open. DS recvd appointment last Dec. but still proceeded with all other options (service academies & ROTC & NROTC) USNA was his #1 choice.
2- DS received NROTC scholarship and accepted. His school unit gave several NSI options. He picked one after I-Day (in July I believe).
If he were turned away from USNA due to a medical issue, The same would not be for NROTC. He was advised that the NSI could be pushed until medical cleared. He'd have to pay tuition to school, but when medically cleared, and joined unit, he can apply for a refund from NROTC/Navy.
I read his paperwork and reporting and taking oath on Iday negates the NROTC scholarship. He had an email pre-written to send after I-Day that we sent to school and NROTC unit. We put a deposit at the university his NROTC scholarship was at as a small insurance policy.
3- As previously stated by others, no need to inform

Good Luck! Keep lining up great options, the more the better.
 
Awesome advice above. One more thing: Don’t let anyone tell you that you need to make a decision PRONTO and AHEAD of the deadline and DON’T hold on to so many options because…you’re preventing others from being accepted. That’s simply not true.

You’ve earned the right to take all the time allotted to make your decision. It’s not as if you decline and immediately the school offers your spot to the next candidate in line. Not at all! Schools manage to a yield, which is based on historical data. They have a very good idea of how many candidates will accept and decline, and they plan accordingly. So use all the time you’ve been granted — and earned.
 
Do not cancel your applications to civilian schools. An acceptance to some schools will be good for two years if you go to a SA. Plan B in the bank.
 
As for the question on noms . . . my personal opinion (not speaking as a BGO) is that, if you have an appointment in hand (not promise of one but an actual certificate in your fingers), I would withdraw your applications for other noms for that SA. Why? Because that opens the opportunity for other candidates who really need that nom to have a chance at an appointment. Why should someone with an appointment get yet another nom, when they don't need one? These aren't lottery tickets.

Personally, I don't care about USNA's desire for "flexibility" in charging. They decided to make an appointment, knowing the nomination(s) the candidate had at that time. If charging to that source(s) will cause issues, they should have held back making the appointment. If you're a candidate, consider how you would feel if the situation were reversed.

The one caveat is if the candidate is still interested in other SAs (other than USCGA) and doesn't yet have an appointment to those. Under those circumstances, I would inform the MOC that you have an appt to USNA (because their giving you another nom to USNA won't help your efforts to get into a different SA) but are still very interested in USMA (or whatever). Of course, you need to be prepared to explain during your interview which is your first choice. If you say USNA, you almost certainly won't get another nom. However, if you say USMA (or whatever), that really should be a viable option for you or you're wasting everyone's time and, again, potentially taking a nom from someone who really wants to attend that SA.
 
My understanding (and I am not an attorney) is that the only restricting factor is ED (Early Decision). If you accept ED to a school supposedly under NACAC Rules you are ethically supposed to notify any other schools (including military academies) of the ED selection. Every other "commitment" is not considered to be final (even with deposits) until May 1st. This followed a DOJ investigation and agreement with NACAC regarding multiple acceptances to different schools.

Directly from @usna1985 from 2018:
Can I apply Early Decision to a civilian college and still apply to USNA?

If you want to attend USNA, do NOT apply Early Decision to a civilian school. [Early Decision is the mutually binding program where you agree to attend the school if accepted.] The reason is that, if you are accepted to that civilian school under the ED program, USNA will require you to withdraw your application from USNA.

It does not matter what the civilian school says. USNA is a member of the NACAC (National Association for College Admission Counseling) and must abide by their rules, which require you to commit to your ED school and withdraw applications from all other colleges. There is apparently no exception for SAs.

This does NOT apply to Early Action programs, which are not binding. I don't know whether this rule applies to the other SAs -- you would need to check with their Admissions office.
 
Does accepting an appointment to USNA automatically withdraw apps to other SAs?

Asking because DS accepted his USNA appointment, then received notification less than a week later that his Army application was withdrawn (with no action from his side). It’s a moot point because he was going to decline anyway (if offered the appointment at Army).
 
Weird. Thanks.

Army has been having some portal issues this week, I wonder if this is related.
 
Received clarification from USMA this week.

His application was withdrawn since he told a USMA coach that he committed to USNA. No action on his end; USMA unilaterally withdrew his application due to his athletics commitment to USNA.
 
Received clarification from USMA this week.

His application was withdrawn since he told a USMA coach that he committed to USNA. No action on his end; USMA unilaterally withdrew his application due to his athletics commitment to USNA.

That seems odd. DD1 and the Air Force coach signed a non-binding participation agreement with USAFA prior to receiving offers of appointment to any of the academies. It did not have any impact on her subsequently receiving offers of appointment to Army, Coast Guard, Navy, or Air Force. And she did not formally accept her offer to Navy until after all of the other offers were already in hand.
 
That seems odd. DD1 and the Air Force coach signed a non-binding participation agreement with USAFA prior to receiving offers of appointment to any of the academies. It did not have any impact on her subsequently receiving offers of appointment to Army, Coast Guard, Navy, or Air Force. And she did not formally accept her offer to Navy until after all of the other offers were already in hand.
WOW! She must really be a superstar. Congrats proud papa! Amazing.
 
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