Qualified -competing for Nomination

[USNACan2012Branch]

I am a USNA Candidate for c/o 2012. Last month I got notified by my BGO that I was Scholastically Qualified. I'm also medically qualified, and physically. I'm curious though, should I have received a letter informing me of my qualifcation? I finished my application to USNA, and now, the last thing is I have my congressional interview Dec. 8th . My congressman acknowledged that I was qualified, but I don't seem to have any notification? My BGO and most alumni of USNA seem to think I have a more than excellent shot at admission, but I'm unsure what my status is right now- so my questions are,
.

Should I have received notification of my SQ?

Any advice on the congressional interview-

Are my BGO and the USNA Midshipman and Alumni I know just telling me that to boost my confidence or are they for real?

Good thing I got selected for the NROTC scholarship in September, at least I have a backup...

V/r

Jonathan

 

[Aronson]

Jonathan,
I had a very similar situation as well. My BGO told me about a month ago that i was 3Q'ed as well, and I got a letter saying that I was scholastically Qual'ed yesterday. The nomination would appear to be the limiting factor in admission. Good luck,
Aronson

 

[USNA69]

......I don't seem to have any notification? My BGO and most alumni of USNA seem to think I have a more than excellent shot at admission,

Hopefully you misunderstood your BGO since they are specifically warned against making such statements.

Does the CGIS not show your correct status? If not, contact your Regional Director.

 

[USNACan2012Branch]

Hopefully you misunderstood your BGO since they are specifically warned against making such statements.

Well more so, he said I shouldn't worrry as much as I do, as I put it in the first post it seems exaggerated.

I was just curious about a letter in the mail that would notify me.

 

[greeneagle5]

I received a Letter of Assurance from admissions back in October...MOC interview is next week...good luck

 

[LineInTheSand]

You should have a contact for your Congressman. My advice: do as many interviews as you can. I did Sen. Bill Frist and Rep. Bob Clement from Tennessee. I got an LOA from USNA and just had to wait on the nomination. I also was accepted early to USMMA.


Huge thing for interviews....BE HONEST!

Example: At my Bill Frist interview they asked about bin Laden (this was late 2001). Basically commenting that there might be war and what I thought about it. My response, while possibly not politically correct (what HS student is) went along the lines of "Someone's going to kill him, I think it should be us." I will say it was a bit more diplomatic at the time, but that was the idea. That was a two person interview, a Frist staffer and a Navy commander. The commander was the CO of the Vanderbilt NROTC. He clearly understood that my wish list was 1. USCGA, 2. USNA, 3. USMMA, 4. Vanderbilt NROTC (I found out he was the CO only after that came out, that worked out nicely).

Interviews will vary. Frist was a two person interview in a small room. Clement was a 15 person semi-circle around me in a large room with people shooting questions one by one. When asked if I could stand someone yelling at me in my face, I responded that my mother had been doing that for 18 years, but atleast at an academy at some point I would be able to give a little bit of that "love" back. They liked that, and it was true. They don't want someone to posture themselves, be over confident, and play to the crowd. They want you, all you are. Show them that and they will be able to feel like they're making the right decision (whether that's nominating or not is up to them.)


In a short time I got my Congressional Nomination from Frist but I couldn't figure out why there wasn't one for USMMA. I sat back for awhile, and eventually I called his office representative for Congressional nominations. I asked if there was a nomination available for USMMA too. Maybe I shouldn't have done that, don't really know how out of line that was, but I was a high schooler, so I like to think I didn't quite know my place. Well in short time I got another nomination from Frist for USMMA. Finally weeks later I got the nomination from Clement for USNA and USMMA (thus negating my need to call Frist's office in the first place.)

My point, don't be affraid to advocate for yourself and find out where your package is. You don't want to be "that guy" whose package fell between the cracks at some point. Do it respectfully though, you can't demand a nomination.

Good luck!