The first "cut"

Ive heard many things about the nominations and the review board. But doesn't the USNA go over your prelimanary applicaion, and tell you wether or not they find you competitive to apply? Is this just to get rid of the kids with 1.7s and no ECs and how many kids do they find not compeitive for admissions?

 

IIRC, they certainly go over your initial application and tell you whether or not you are competitive. Whether the Congresscritter reps check on that is unknown, but in the grand scheme of things, remember this:

The nomination IS the first great hurdle that MUST, except in the rarest of circumstances, be cleared before having ANY chance to get into the Academy. The Academies are highly selective, and the Congresscritters know it. Additionally, it does the Congresscritter no good to nominate people who drop out later, so it is in their best interests to select the best.

So, whether the Academy does a semi-official "first cut" is pretty irrelevant because the REAL first cut is the nomination, and those are not given out to folks with 1.7 GPA's.

Hope that helps.


ETA: Hopefully, one of our resident BGO's will be along soon to clarify any nuts and bolts I may have missed. I don't think the general jist will be any different, though.

 

You must meet certain academic criteria to be considered an "official candidate." That entitles you to get your medical exam and submit the rest of your packet. If you don't meet those criteria, the Academy and your Blue & Gold Officer will so advise you. As a general rule (and there ARE exceptions), the criteria is, among other things, a 600/600 on your SAT. This is a USNA thing and has nothing to do with nominations.

However, even if you get a nom, if USNA doesn't think you're competitive, it won't make any difference. The bottom line is that nominations and USNA qualifications operate in parallel. Again, as a general rule, you won't get a nom if USNA doesn't consider you academically competitive. It's not that they compare notes, just that they tend to apply the same criteria.

You CAN get a nom and be considered academically qualified for USNA and still not get an appointment. The usual reason is medical, although there are some folks who just don't make the final cut.

 

Just to add: If you don't make the "first cut", take SAT's or ACT's again and resubmit your scores. If they improve you may indeed get candidate status. I know of one youngster who did not make the "first cut", re-took tests, became a candidate and went to prep on a foundation scholarship and also got a nomination.
Obviously, this person did not have a 1.7 GPA and no EC's. But if you are close then perseverence appears to pay off.
Competition for nominations appears to vary by congressional district, and certainly may vary within districts from year to year. It just depends on how many "openings" each MOC has in a particular year vs how many applicants they receive.

 

And also, the Admissions Office will "find" nominations from highly qualified candidates who, for one reason or another, fail to get their MOC appointment.

 

I was wondering about that- where do those nominations (like for recruited athletes) come from? Are they taken from regular applicants?

 

After all the various nominations have been filled, there are still many openings left. Triple qualified candidates who didn't receive nominations will be looked at again and many will be offered appointments.

Some recruited atheletes fit in this category. Others, if they are the most qualified, receive their regular congressional nominations. I am really not sure of all the parameters of recruited athlete appointments. Maybe usna1985 can help us.