Nomination Slate Question

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YoHanNee

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Nov 30, 2021
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Good Morning. I am currently applying for West Point and have received both a Presidential and Congressional Nominations. I have been going over some discussions in the Nominations forums and am now confused over the "Slate" thing people are talking about. My original belief was that when you get Nominated and qualified, you compete against ALL the other candidates who also are qualified.

But apparently that is not the case. How do the rankings and slates work? Can only a limited amount of candidates be appointed from one Congressional District?

Also, is it better to be 1st in the ranking of a non-competitive congressional district or last in the ranking of a competitive congressional district?
 
YoHanNee said:
Good Morning. I am currently applying for West Point and have received both a Presidential and Congressional Nominations. I have been going over some discussions in the Nominations forums and am now confused over the "Slate" thing people are talking about. My original belief was that when you get Nominated and qualified, you compete against ALL the other candidates who also are qualified.

But apparently that is not the case. How do the rankings and slates work? Can only a limited amount of candidates be appointed from one Congressional District?

Also, is it better to be 1st in the ranking of a non-competitive congressional district or last in the ranking of a competitive congressional district?
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Take a step back to see the big picture.

First, go re-read the Sticky Post pinned to the top of the Nominations forum.

A “slate” is simply a list.

Elected officials can have 5 appointed midshipmen or cadets at each SA at any one time, spread across 4 classes. That means 1, occasionally 2, appointments are charged to that nomination source each year.

The elected official can submit a slate of up to 10 nominated names for each vacancy.

But - the SA can also choose other fully qualified applicants off that same slate, according to guidelines, and charge those appointments to nomination authorities they manage.

A fully qualified candidate has to beat other fully qualified candidates on their slate to get the offer of appointment that will be charged to the elected official. I won’t get into principal noms, ranked vs. unranked.

If the fully qualified candidate ends up with a nom, but not the appointment that will be charged to that elected official, they are still in play - now on a national level, competing against other fully qualified candidates with noms in a similar situation.
 
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YoHanNee said:
Can only a limited amount of candidates be appointed from one Congressional District?
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No. I've seen ten get into one SA in one cycle from my district in recent years. There was certainly a mix of MOC, Senatorial, Presidential and Secretary (Prep school) noms.

YoHanNee said:
Also, is it better to be 1st in the ranking of a non-competitive congressional district or last in the ranking of a competitive congressional district?
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1st in the rankings will generally get an appointment while last might not. I'm in a competitive district and have seen interview slates with more than five LOA holders for one SA in the same year. Being last in the rankings that year might not be the best place to be.
 
Capt MJ said:
Take a step back to see the big picture.

First, go re-read the Sticky Post pinned to the top of the Nominations forum.

A “slate” is simply a list.

Elected officials can have 5 appointed midshipmen or cadets at each SA at any one time, spread across 4 classes. That means 1, occasionally 2, appointments are charged to that nomination source each year.

The elected official can submit a slate of up to 10 nominated names for each vacancy.

But - the SA can also choose other fully qualified applicants off that same slate, according to guidelines, and charge those appointments to nomination authorities they manage.

A fully qualified candidate has to beat other fully qualified candidates on their slate to get the offer of appointment that will be charged to the elected official. I won’t get into principal noms, ranked vs. unranked.

If the fully qualified candidate ends up with a nom, but not the appointment that will be charged to that elected official, they are still in play - now on a national level, competing against other fully qualified candidates with noms in a similar situation.
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Would a principal nomination show up differently on the portal? How do the SAs know that it is a principal nomination?
 
Mem2026 said:
Would a principal nomination show up differently on the portal? How do the SAs know that it is a principal nomination?
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I assume whatever the elected official sends to Admissions would show the principal/ranked/unranked method.

I don’t know if a principal nom shows up. All the SAs have different systems, different portals, different methodologies, different applicant-view information.

I
 
Capt MJ said:
I assume whatever the elected official sends to Admissions would show the principal/ranked/unranked method.

I don’t know if a principal nom shows up. All the SAs have different systems, different portals, different methodologies, different applicant-view information.

I
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Thank you for your quick response!
 
Mem2026 said:
Would a principal nomination show up differently on the portal? How do the SAs know that it is a principal nomination?
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My son got a principal and we only knew that because a email was sent out to all the nomination winners explaining there was one principal and the rest were unranked alternates. Both MOC & Senator did this. Portal doesn’t show principal nor does the official letter from each, only the email specified in my sons situation.
 
have4incali said:
My son got a principal and we only knew that because a email was sent out to all the nomination winners explaining there was one principal and the rest were unranked alternates. Both MOC & Senator did this. Portal doesn’t show principal nor does the official letter from each, only the email specified in my sons situation.
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Thank you for your detailed response! Much appreciated!
 
Mem2026 said:
Thank you for your detailed response! Much appreciated!
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But…nominating sources don’t have to tell their nominees what method they used. Or if they are a principal. Some sources never notify their nominees (both of my guys were not notified by one source…) of their nomination. Sometimes, the nomination just shows up in your portal.
 
So is there a way to tell since I know for a fact that my nominating source ranks nominees, how far down the slate you are?
 
USNA2025Prospect said:
So is there a way to tell since I know for a fact that my nominating source ranks nominees, how far down the slate you are?
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You can get a nice brain hamster running amok on this one.
- You don’t know who on your slate has been fully qualified. If not fully qualified, no offer of appointment.
- You don’t know who on your slate may have noms from other sources.
- You don’t know who on your slate has/may receive offers of appointment elsewhere/has other plans and may decline an offered appointment, if given.
- You don’t know how the SA has evaluated and ranked your slatemates, independently of the nom process.

Time to go PT and wear out the brain hamsters.
 
USNA2025Prospect said:
So is there a way to tell since I know for a fact that my nominating source ranks nominees, how far down the slate you are?
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Even if you know? It doesn’t matter. Bc there are so many OTHER influences at play.

It’s not a simple ‘list’ that the SA goes down. Even if you are ranked number 3, or 7, that doesn’t equate to being 3, or 7 for an appointment for the SA. You could receive an appointment.

It really is fruitless to spend time on this. And it can drive you crazy. There are seasoned BGO’s here who have seen it all. They have been at it for years, and still cannot predict an outcome.

It’s not a public process. We don’t know how it all eventually comes together. Sooooo many different pieces, parts and players. And even after the class is settled? It’s still a head scratcher on a local level. No clue where either of my guys were charged. But all they needed to get there, was ONE nomination. On ONE slate. The SA figures it out from there!!

Hang in there and try and focus on other things. It helps with the nomination/appointment mind looping. Bc no matter how you think you have the loop figured out? It probably isn’t correct 😬
 
Capt MJ said:
I assume whatever the elected official sends to Admissions would show the principal/ranked/unranked method.

I don’t know if a principal nom shows up. All the SAs have different systems, different portals, different methodologies, different applicant-view information.

I
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Yes, when submitting nominations we have to first indicate what type of nomination we are doing. It's typically a drop-down menu option in which we can select principal with the rest of the list either ranked or unranked or we can submit a competitive slate. Both USAFA and Naval Academy have changed their nomination portals to Salesforce based platforms so they look a little different than in previous years.

Every candidate we submit a nomination for requires us to select their type of nomination and then verify our intention. Once we've completed this process for all 10 we then have to review the entire slate to make sure it's as we intended. We then "lock it" with the academy to indicate we're done even if the deadline hasn't passed yet so they can start making decisions based on our slates. If it's a year in which we're submitting 2 slates we can have both a competitive slate and a principal slate. We can also utilize the 2 slates to nominate 20 individuals or give certain candidates 2 nominations as they can appear on both slates.

We can see in the nomination portal what type of nomination we gave them, but we can't see what type of nomination another congressional office gave them only that they were given a nomination by that office. Candidates can't see what type of nomination they received only that they were nominated.
 
MOC5th said:
Yes, when submitting nominations we have to first indicate what type of nomination we are doing. It's typically a drop-down menu option in which we can select principal with the rest of the list either ranked or unranked or we can submit a competitive slate. Both USAFA and Naval Academy have changed their nomination portals to Salesforce based platforms so they look a little different than in previous years.

Every candidate we submit a nomination for requires us to select their type of nomination and then verify our intention. Once we've completed this process for all 10 we then have to review the entire slate to make sure it's as we intended. We then "lock it" with the academy to indicate we're done even if the deadline hasn't passed yet so they can start making decisions based on our slates. If it's a year in which we're submitting 2 slates we can have both a competitive slate and a principal slate. We can also utilize the 2 slates to nominate 20 individuals or give certain candidates 2 nominations as they can appear on both slates.

We can see in the nomination portal what type of nomination we gave them, but we can't see what type of nomination another congressional office gave them only that they were given a nomination by that office. Candidates can't see what type of nomination they received only that they were nominated.
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Most appreciate “slate-front view!”
 
In regards to competitive slates, if there is a recruited athlete on the slate, do you think the admissions board gives that more weight when evaluating the slate? I would think they might take that into account but I could also argue that it's not considered. Just curious.
 
JaxGolfGuy said:
In regards to competitive slates, if there is a recruited athlete on the slate, do you think the admissions board gives that more weight when evaluating the slate? I would think they might take that into account but I could also argue that it's not considered. Just curious.
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I’m sorry that I’m not more help, but are you a recruited athlete and if so, are you Blue Chipped?
 
I m super late to this conversation and trying to filter through the thread. maybe someone can explain what "slate" means.? My son has received 3 nominations from our congressman, 1 for each academy, but I have no idea what a "slate" is or anything about rank. Any explanation would be greatly appreciated.
 
JaxGolfGuy said:
Not recuited. Just a general question regarding the ranking of the slates.
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My son is a recruited athlete and is considered a Blue Chip. With that said, he still has to go before the admissions board and get appointed. I do think he has a special mark identifying he is an athlete but I’m not sure how much/if any weight that has. I’ve been wondering the same,lol.
 
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