Nomination/Admission Question

T

tx2022

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I called and introduced myself to my congressional staffer and insure everything was received. She gave me some information I had never heard. She says the committee will choose who to interview and has input, but they like to follow the direction of the academies. She said each academy gives a confidence rating of acceptance. For example if you apply to multiple academies they make you state your preference, if you preference USAFA but they only rate you as some what confident to get accepted, but USMA preferences you as highly confident of acceptance they will give you a USMA nomination over USAFA even if it is your first choice. She also said this was her first year to do this. Is this accurate? Do MOC's have the ability to see how likely you are to be accepted?
 
The academies CANNOT admit anyone without a nomination. So they like to stay close to this process in order to ensure that the best qualified candidates get nominations. LOAs and athletic recruits are examples of how SAs can communicate their preferences to MOCs; ALOs and field force reps may have liason with MOC staff as well. There is no restriction on this.

BUT at the end of the day MOC has unrestricted authority to nominate anyone they please. SAs usually do not like the 'principal nominee' approach but they are stuck with it if qualified. Most MOCs do a good job vetting candidates but I am sure here and there favoritism / nepotism / patronage comes into play. It is Congress after all . . .
 
I am assuming that you are in Texas so I can give you a little more advice. As stated before, the MOC can do whatever they want and each office does it different. The FFRs see how your packet is ranked at a very high level and I would guess the ALOs see something similar. They see basically highly competitive, admissible, not admissible. They do not have a magic eight ball to know where everyone will end up when the competition is over. MOCs are doing there thing towards the end of the year and the deadline for all application material is not till the end of February. If you applied to multiple service academies then you should be happy to receive a nomination to any one of them.

I will go out on a limb here and this is only my opinion, but the rankings between the academies are very similar and if you are a highly competitive candidate at one, you would also be highly competitive at the others. The differences would come from ho you are competing against.

In terms of the Senators in Texas, they require you to rank your preferences and the two offices communicate so you will not get more than one nomination to one academy. They do not coordinate with all of the local MOCs.

Hope that helps. Bottom line is to do your best and enjoy your senior year. You just get one of those.
 
USMA 1994: You're dating yourself with the "magic 8 ball" reference; the OP probably never played with that toy!;) I did LOL though!
 
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