Questions! My DD is a Recruited Athlete, help with the process!

SWCCCHIEF

New Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2017
Messages
2
My DD put in an application before she became a recruited athlete. She has applied to all the service academies. Received a nomination for USNA, and USMMA, But not for USMA.
She did go on an visit and spent the night, coach has reached out and stated that she is a recruit and they are fully supporting her application. Got a email from the Ass. AD who sated he has her file and we would hear something in about 2 weeks.
Has anyone been through this kind of process? any idea what her chances are? Any input would be appreciated.
 
If the coach has a 'chit' to cash in and is willing to do so for your daughter, then all things are possible. At the minimum, the VP nominations are left to the discretion of each Service Academy (has she applied for a VP nomination?).

It was a long time ago, but I actually received an appointment to USMA and never applied. I went to USAFA. I still to this day don't know how I got the appointment to USMA or what hoops I would have had to jump through after the fact. (I was not a recruited athlete) had I decided to accept it.

It is also possible that USMA would send your daughter to the prep school if a nomination couldn't be found.

I would certainly think it a fair question for your daughter to ask about 'solving' the nomination criteria, but I am sure USMA has a way to make it happen.

Just curious - if she received an appointment to USNA or USMMA, what would she choose?
 
I would say with great confidence that she would chose USMA if she had the opportunity to pick from all.
To reason, #1 She wants to serve as an office in the military and hopes to attend Med school, She loved her visit to West Point and developed a better understanding of the many career field choices.
#2 The opportunity to play a varsity sport at the D1 level is something that not everyone gets the chance to do. What a great experience. That is just my opinion but we really have not discussed it.
 
My DS is also a recruited athlete, and while not the same scenario I can share our experience. He filled out his application in July, finished shortly after school started. Even had a DODMERB remediation in there. He received and accepted his Appointment offer at the end of October, before he had his Congressional Nomination. My guess would be that if the coach wants her enough, and it sounds like she is competitive considering she was on track at the other SA's, she "could" get a Superintendent’s nomination or the Vice President? I say this because, when my DS received his Appointment, no nominating source was given. The only time a source was identified was after his MOC nomination, which was after he accepted. I say this with only my experience and what I have tried to glean from this forum. Hope this helps.
 
This is one of those weird areas of the the appointment process. We've had long arguments about this on SAF. At the SA if a recruited athlete wins an appointment and during their 47 month journey they decide the sport program is not to their liking and/or the academic stress is too much, they can leave the athletic program and still continue at the SA. This is just the opposite if they attended State U. If they leave the scholarship is gone and so are they. Being a recruited athlete is no easy chore at WP, generally speaking they are on the lower spectrum of the OLM. Its not they aren't smart, there is so much time in the day. Time management and staying injury free are the keys to success for recruited athletes. Is a very demanding pace. If the AD wants your athlete they will find a way for a NOM. This is why there is a supe nom available. These noms are not available to the open public but reserved for this reason.

Good Luck

Push Hard, Press Forward
 
My DD put in an application before she became a recruited athlete. She has applied to all the service academies. Received a nomination for USNA, and USMMA, But not for USMA.
She did go on an visit and spent the night, coach has reached out and stated that she is a recruit and they are fully supporting her application. Got a email from the ***. AD who sated he has her file and we would hear something in about 2 weeks.
Has anyone been through this kind of process? any idea what her chances are? Any input would be appreciated.

My DS is a recruited athlete at West Point and that is a great benefit! He is considered "blue chip" for his sport so that helps even more. To clarify, there are recruited athletes just like any other school and they are prioritized for their sport. The top recruits can get one of a limited number of "blue chip" spots which means the applications are fully supported by the athletic and admissions department- basically hand walked thru the process and stamped as such on application. He was also recruited by the other Academies as well. (It is unclear how many of these slots the various sports at the Academies have.)

His sport had the blue chip standards communicated at AFA. The head coach there was asked by another athlete while we were visiting what "blue chip" meant. The coach said that if everything else is relatively equal they will support the blue chip athlete for admission more than the recruit who isn't at blue chip level. (I hope that makes sense) These recruited athletes can potentially- not guaranteed- be admitted with a lower standardized test score, GPA, etc than the at pool applicants.

Fortunately my DS was very high academically as well but the test score he was told he needed during the recruiting process was much lower than the average you will see posted. If your DD is fortunate enough to receive an LOA that is pretty much golden too as the MOC knows who has one of those. In fact, West Point just notified us 10 minutes ago his offer is 100% coming next week because he has an LOA and was just granted a medical waiver. The LOA gives assurance that if all the pieces of the process are qualified the candidate will have a spot reserved for them in the class. The medical waiver piece is also helped along by the athletic and admissions department to some degree. The academy worked with our MOC as well to help the process along. In short, the process is very long and daunting regardless but being a recruited athlete at the Academies helps immensely- especially if grades and ecs are also strong.
 
My DS is also a recruited athlete, and while not the same scenario I can share our experience. He filled out his application in July, finished shortly after school started. Even had a DODMERB remediation in there. He received and accepted his Appointment offer at the end of October, before he had his Congressional Nomination. My guess would be that if the coach wants her enough, and it sounds like she is competitive considering she was on track at the other SA's, she "could" get a Superintendent’s nomination or the Vice President? I say this because, when my DS received his Appointment, no nominating source was given. The only time a source was identified was after his MOC nomination, which was after he accepted. I say this with only my experience and what I have tried to glean from this forum. Hope this helps.

the academy coaches and congressional liaision (who works with the athletic department) work together for the nom process before MOC actually convene their selection process. This is how top recruits can know early in the process (before they go to another school) if they can/ will get in. The athlete is temporarily awarded a presidential nomination, supe nomination, etc until after the MOC nominate. Then, if the athlete gets nominated by MOC the nomination is transferred to that MOC. If the recruited athlete isn't nominated locally they find one from a MOC throughout the country to allocate that slot to.
 
Près NOMS you must have a service connect and seeking a unused NOM from another district or state is forbidden there are some governance about this subject that is followed. I thought the same a while back but I dug into the subject and found these answers. There are a lot of congress members who don't believe in war or the military and thus do not support the service academies. Their slots go vacant year after year, as long as they are in office.

Push Hard, Press Forward
 
My DD put in an application before she became a recruited athlete. She has applied to all the service academies. Received a nomination for USNA, and USMMA, But not for USMA.
She did go on an visit and spent the night, coach has reached out and stated that she is a recruit and they are fully supporting her application. Got a email from the ***. AD who sated he has her file and we would hear something in about 2 weeks.
Has anyone been through this kind of process? any idea what her chances are? Any input would be appreciated.

I would tell you to get the coach involved. There is a difference between being "chipped" and being recruited (at least there was in my DD's case).

The coach should be able to help ease the minds of your family. Also, if you met with Gene McIntyre and he said you "are good to go", he will make sure it happens. Again, there is a difference between being recruited and being "chipped".
 
Près NOMS you must have a service connect and seeking a unused NOM from another district or state is forbidden there are some governance about this subject that is followed. I thought the same a while back but I dug into the subject and found these answers. There are a lot of congress members who don't believe in war or the military and thus do not support the service academies. Their slots go vacant year after year, as long as they are in office.

Push Hard, Press Forward

The MOC slots that go unfilled can be used as NWL slots.
 
The MOC slots that go unfilled can be used as NWL slots.

Dear buff81,
A few years back we had this debated about the very same subject. I knew it took place but you were very adamant it did not and ask me not to confuse the audience. You also asked me to refrain from this subject. Has there been a change in recent years?

Push Hard, Press Forward
 
Tug-
I vaguely remember this conversation, but I can't find it. Could you reference it for me ?
 
If it is determined that, upon the admission of a new class to the Academy, the number of cadets at the Academy will be below the authorized number, the Secretary of the Army may fill the vacancies by nominating additional cadets from qualified candidates designated as alternates and from other qualified candidates who competed for nomination and are recommended and found qualified by the Academic Board. At least three-fourths of those nominated under this section shall be selected from qualified alternates nominated by the persons named in paragraphs (2) through (8) of section 4342(a) of this title, and the remainder from qualified candidates holding competitive nominations under any other provision of law. An appointment under this section is an additional appointment and is not in place of an appointment otherwise authorized by law.

Yes, any unused nomination source gets filled through the process we commonly refer to as the national waiting list.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/4343
 
The MOC slots that go unfilled can be used as NWL slots.

Dear buff81,
A few years back we had this debated about the very same subject. I knew it took place but you were very adamant it did not and ask me not to confuse the audience. You also asked me to refrain from this subject. Has there been a change in recent years?

Push Hard, Press Forward

@tug_boat -
I have searched and searched and I can not find any conversation with you about unused MOC slots being used on NWL. Please reference this conversation.

I found a conversation where I did ask you not to confuse the candidates. It was about whether or not your son's scholarship to NWP was an AOG scholarship. But, I did not see anything in the conversation about unused MOC slots.
 
@tug_boat -
I have searched and searched and I can not find any conversation with you about unused MOC slots being used on NWL. Please reference this conversation.

I found a conversation where I did ask you not to confuse the candidates. It was about whether or not your son's scholarship to NWP was an AOG scholarship. But, I did not see anything in the conversation about unused MOC slots.

I do appreciate and very much respect your diligence about the subject. Please, understand I'm not trying to discredit you or undermine your efforts or others who contributed to the forum. I've made a few phone calls to help me and Im waiting to hear back. Im on the same page as you wanting to deliver the best answers to those asking questions. Its important to both of us to keep SAF a place of useful resources that are factual. I am like you wanting to keep the credibility of SAF on the fore front. SAF has a lot of value, especially to those wanting to attend WP.

Thank You and I do appreciate you!

Push Hard, Press Forward
 
Last edited:
Back
Top