Recruited Athlete and Nominations

SydCampbell

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May 15, 2016
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I need some advice as to how my chances for a nomination now stand. A friend of mine just told me that he was being recruited for track at USMA. He has been state champ in 1A (smallest school level) Hurdles. He has no leadership to my knowledge and does have decent grades (not a 4.0 but I would assume nothing below a 3.7). I am not sure about SAT/ACT scores. He is not completely sure if he wants to go but is having an overnight visit this fall.
I have been working towards this goal since the 7th grade and have worked very hard to this point. We are unfortunately in the same congressional district (this district requires an interview as well). I do not have high hopes for a Senatorial nomination for myself given that will include people from Northern VA (specifically Fairfax County), but I had high hopes for my district (9th Congressional of VA). Will this recruited athlete hurt my chances? I will continue to work as hard as I can to improve my weaknesses, but I am a bit worried and would greatly appreciate some advice and the procedure the recruited athletes must go through to get in. (I would also like to say that I have no problem with recruited athletes, just this particular one is not even sure if he wants to go and is not fully dedicated to USMA and the Army). Thanks in advance for any advice, I am much obliged. Have a great day!
 
Recruited athletes........This is a complex subject. First you must understand its not fair to compare yourself to others. But then you still need to keep your eye on the stats. SA recruited athlete programs are different than going to a State U. If you are a recruited SA academy athlete and you get injured or decide not to continue in the program you can still attend a SA. Not so much at State U, once your done then the clause you signed kicks in on the contract and you're out. So with that in mind, SA recruited athletes are at the needs of the service branch. Yes, SA need to stay competitive with attracting young athletes to advertise the opportunities available for those who may be selected at State U or are not. What is foremost, is can the the recruited athlete keep pace with the academic work load and succeed? This is why you see so many attend prep school before going into a SA.

The NOM. If a coach really wants a athlete who may not do so well getting a NOM from their local area, they have resources to find that NOM. Without getting into too much detail, a Sup NOM, can be found. So bottom line, don't let you local NOM worry you too much. Keep working hard, get the highest points you can. Keep yourself healthy (what if that other student gets injured and doesn't continue) stay focused on your goals! Take the ACT/SAT as many times as you can and improve. Work on your application and get it completed as soon as you can. In other words.........

Push Hard, Press Forward!
 
The answer to your question is.....it's possible, but very unlikely. The bottom line is that it depends on how well coordinated your congressional office is with admissions (these days most have it down, but there are always stragglers). Recruited athletes do not usually count against a MOC's five allocated slots, but the athlete must still have a nomination. Ideally the MOC submits a slate of ten nominations with no ranking and then the athlete will not affect the order of merit of the nominees. Alternatively, if the MOC rank orders, hopefully they understand that it is in their district's best interest if they rank the athlete at the bottom of the list even if they would rank higher than other candidates. If the athlete "wins the district" as a result of a high ranking, or worse, is given a principal nomination, then the athlete fills that vacancy and the other nominees are sent to the National Wait List.

In practice, the athlete will not hurt your chances of winning the district because they are being recruited. They will hurt your chances (and everyone else's) of being selected off the NWL because some athletes with lower Whole Candidate Scores will be selected over other candidates with higher scores. The athlete could keep you from getting one of the ten nominations. However, if you were that low on the district pecking order, it is extremely unlikely that you would get an appointment anyway.
 
Being recruited doesn't guarantee an appointment and you aren't both competing for only one available NOM. Each MOC runs their own process for issuing NOM's and they can nominate 10 individuals for each opening at an SA. Just because someone tells you they are being recruited and/or bragging about the implication of that, you really have no way to know if they will eventually be 3Q which is determined by the SA, not the MOC and how they may do during the MOC interviews. I would focus instead on the things you can control. That one person is NOT your only competition for a NOM and you really have no way to know who else is applying in any given year. Where a NOM is issued may also not be where the SA eventually charges it.
 
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