Principal nominee

[lykingku67]

I am not trying to rock the boat. What if there are other applicants in a certain district that has more stellar package than the principal. How would admission reacts in this situation

 

[brewmeist]

There are 435 members of the House of Representatives. There are 100 US Senators. That is 535. Each is allotted 5 appointees at every academy that requires a nomination. That adds up to 2675 at USNA. Using a reasonable enrollment of 4500 at USNA, that leaves 1825 appointees that are nominated from other sources. And that is even assuming that every MOC has 5 appointees each, which isn't the case.

You can analyze the figures all you want. In the end, submit the best application that you can. USNA will do the the rest.

 

[NavyHoops]

If you look at US Title 10 that governs nominations, the language is slightly different for USNA. While USAFA and USMA are required to appoint a principal who is 3Q, USNA is not. They are not required by US law to appointment a principal nominee. With all that being said, USNA will usually honor the principal Nom if they are 3Q. It is very rare to have a principal not get the appointment, but it has happened.

Now just because you think your package might be better, there may be something that had this person stand out above and beyond the others and why the MOC used that method. As long as that candidate is 3Q the chances are pretty high that candidate will get an Appt, but no guarantees. More than likely there was a reason this person stood out. A MOC panel isn’t going to nominate someone that doesn’t have the stats to be 3Q or the drive to make it through USNA.

 

[usna1985]

Agree 100% with Hoops. To add to her comments, for obvious reasons USNA doesn't want to annoy MOC offices. Thus, if an MOC makes someone a principal and that person is 3Q, USNA likely has a pretty compelling reason not to appoint that individual. It's unlikely that USNA will simply substitute its judgment for that of the MOC panel as that defeats the purpose of a principal nom.

 

[shock-n-awe]

I am not trying to rock the boat. What if there are other applicants in a certain district that has more stellar package than the principal. How would admission reacts in this situation

An application package is made up of more things than the obvious and possibly known stats ie. gpa, standardized test scores class rank, CFA etc.. There are many other parts unknown such as letters of Rec, essays, and of course the interviews. Don’t judge others on your slate, instead focus on yourself and how you can improve your application and become 3Q.
Anyone regardless of how stellar they are must be 3Q plus have a NOM to be eligible for an appointment, including the Principal Nominee.
You are assuming too much, No one knows who is more “stellar” on an MOC slate than the Nominating committee. Admissions may see it differently but highly unlikely to overrule the MOC committees Principal pick.

 

[lykingku67]

An application package is made up of more things than the obvious and possibly known stats ie. gpa, standardized test scores class rank, CFA etc.. There are many other parts unknown such as letters of Rec, essays, and of course the interviews. Don’t judge others on your slate, instead focus on yourself and how you can improve your application and become 3Q.
Anyone regardless of how stellar they are must be 3Q plus have a NOM to be eligible for an appointment, including the Principal Nominee.
You are assuming too much, No one knows who is more “stellar” on an MOC slate than the Nominating committee. Admissions may see it differently but highly unlikely to overrule the MOC committees Principal pick.
[/QUO

There are 435 members of the House of Representatives. There are 100 US Senators. That is 535. Each is allotted 5 appointees at every academy that requires a nomination. That adds up to 2675 at USNA. Using a reasonable enrollment of 4500 at USNA, that leaves 1825 appointees that are nominated from other sources. And that is even assuming that every MOC has 5 appointees each, which isn't the case.

You can analyze the figures all you want. In the end, submit the best application that you can. USNA will do the the rest.

Thanks for the numbers.

 

[lykingku67]

If you look at US Title 10 that governs nominations, the language is slightly different for USNA. While USAFA and USMA are required to appoint a principal who is 3Q, USNA is not. They are not required by US law to appointment a principal nominee. With all that being said, USNA will usually honor the principal Nom if they are 3Q. It is very rare to have a principal not get the appointment, but it has happened.

Now just because you think your package might be better, there may be something that had this person stand out above and beyond the others and why the MOC used that method. As long as that candidate is 3Q the chances are pretty high that candidate will get an Appt, but no guarantees. More than likely there was a reason this person stood out. A MOC panel isn’t going to nominate someone that doesn’t have the stats to be 3Q or the drive to make it through USNA.

Thanks for giving me the legal background of the issue.

 

[lykingku67]

Agree 100% with Hoops. To add to her comments, for obvious reasons USNA doesn't want to annoy MOC offices. Thus, if an MOC makes someone a principal and that person is 3Q, USNA likely has a pretty compelling reason not to appoint that individual. It's unlikely that USNA will simply substitute its judgment for that of the MOC panel as that defeats the purpose of a principal nom.

Thanks for the info

 

[lykingku67]

An application package is made up of more things than the obvious and possibly known stats ie. gpa, standardized test scores class rank, CFA etc.. There are many other parts unknown such as letters of Rec, essays, and of course the interviews. Don’t judge others on your slate, instead focus on yourself and how you can improve your application and become 3Q.
Anyone regardless of how stellar they are must be 3Q plus have a NOM to be eligible for an appointment, including the Principal Nominee.
You are assuming too much, No one knows who is more “stellar” on an MOC slate than the Nominating committee. Admissions may see it differently but highly unlikely to overrule the MOC committees Principal pick.

I have sent my best package already. Knowing your weaknesses and strengths of yourself and your competitors is winning half of the battle. I am not assuming too much and my parents told me. do not be afraid to judge but learn how to judge with candor mercy and wisdom.Thank you for your efforts in answering my question.

 

[USEYTsailor]

What would happen if the principal nominee had some aspect of their application incomplete ie. medical.
Would this prevent all the other nominees from being evaluated and given a decision until the principal completes their package?

 

[NavyHoops]

There is no guarantee answer on this as we are not admissions, but for the most part admissions would issue an LOA pending a medical waiver. Maybe their condition isn’t waiverable then admissions would move on and by moving on that could mean several things depending on how the MOC submitted the slate. Admissions goal is to notify everyone by April 15th.

 

[usna1985]

What would happen if the principal nominee had some aspect of their application incomplete ie. medical.
Would this prevent all the other nominees from being evaluated and given a decision until the principal completes their package?

There is no "one size fits all" answer to this question. A lot likely depends on the nature of the medical issue -- how likely it is to be waived. Regardless of what happens to the principal, the other 9 will still be evaluated and, at a minimum and if fully qualified with noms, end up in the National Pool. There are additional appointments from the National Pool. Also, some of the other 9 could have noms from other sources, such as Presidential. IOW, it's not uncommon for more than one person to be appointed from a slate in a very competitive area.

One other note . . . the answer also depends on whether the MOC used a "principal with competitive alternates" or "principal with numbered alternates" method. If the former and the principal isn't appointed, USNA can select among the other 9. If the latter, USNA is essentially required to move to the #2 person on the MOC's slate and so on until they found a fully qualified applicant. Even then, the remaining 8 (or fewer) would still go to the National Pool and still have an opportunity to compete for an appointment.

 

[teamarl]

DD received a principal senatorial nom in Dec. Everything is cleared in her portal. She attended Summer Seminar. BGO thinks she's a strong candidate. Yet, we still anxiously and patiently await news of an appointment. We try REALLY hard to not over-analyze the "whys" for this timeline and for those that have already received word - and to trust the process. Good luck to you!

 

[time2]

I have sent my best package already. Knowing your weaknesses and strengths of yourself and your competitors is winning half of the battle. I am not assuming too much and my parents told me. do not be afraid to judge but learn how to judge with candor mercy and wisdom.Thank you for your efforts in answering my question.

Not exactly sure how you can 'judge' the candidates also applying since you won't have access to their applications and the various other information others mentioned previously such as teacher evaluations, BGO input, etc. that even the candidate will never see. Other then perhaps meeting a few of them during your MOC interview, you wouldn't even know who all is applying. Each MOC sets their own NOM criteria which is separate from how USNA evaluates applicants. You are better off focusing on your own application and continuing to pursue your plan B rather then being overly concerned about the credentials of others applying. Many applicants apply to multiple colleges and may eventually decide to not attend an SA, you would have no way to know that about any of your competition.

 

[A1Janitor]

Not exactly sure how you can 'judge' the candidates also applying since you won't have access to their applications and the various other information others mentioned previously such as teacher evaluations, BGO input, etc. that even the candidate will never see. Other then perhaps meeting a few of them during your MOC interview, you wouldn't even know who all is applying. Each MOC sets their own NOM criteria which is separate from how USNA evaluates applicants. You are better off focusing on your own application and continuing to pursue your plan B rather then being overly concerned about the credentials of others applying. Many applicants apply to multiple colleges and may eventually decide to not attend an SA, you would have no way to know that about any of your competition.

This is exactly right. My son had an unbelievable record in high school. He was confident.

What we didn’t know was if someone else had a better record.

 

[Old Navy BGO]

Knowing your weaknesses and strengths of yourself and your competitors is winning half of the battle.

> I think it needs to be made clear ... Don't worry about your "competitors". Present the best application you can, and let Noms and Appointments decide if you are the most competitive. As someone pointed out before, there are several elements to the application that you will never know about you "competitor". As much as we have some objective input criteria, there is a subjective element to every application, so no applicant should ever think they know the "strengths and weaknesses " of , or are better suited for admission, than their "competitor."