USAFA recruit athlete

One cannot receive offer of appointment without a nomination, whether the source is MOC or other. Even one who is a star athlete.
 
As noted, all appointees require a nomination from one of the various sources, which includes elected officials. It also includes a handful of noms available to the Superintendent delegated from the Service Secretary.

It’s worth noting, because the OP mentioned “Service Academies,” USCGA is not required to use the nom system.
 
The Coast Guard is D3, so a D1 recruited athlete would be kind of fun for them on that level. It might be a nice hook if OP is otherwise qualified.
 
There are plenty of individuals that choose to play D3 sport that were very qualified to play D1. So many people get hung up on level without taking into account many other factors that go into choosing a school and level of sport they want to play. It does somewhat depend on the sport but there are plenty of games every year where D2 and D3 beat D1 teams
 
The main question was answered: ALL appointees must have a nomination. Even a star athlete. And I can tell you first hand, I know of "Star Athletes" and others with an LOA "Letter of Assurance" who did NOT receive a nomination; and as such, did NOT receive an appointment to the academy.

Also; Bigrod is 100% correct. I know of 2 individuals who were "Star Athletes" who were recruited for D1 FBS football. Big names like USC and University of Texas. But they turned them down. Both got accepted to 2 prestigious schools with need based financial aid; and basically went to school for free. And they BOTH played football. One went to Harvard; which is a D1-FCS school. And the other went to Johns Hopkins which is a D3 football division.

Both very wise choices. When you consider that ONLY 5.8% of all HIGH SCHOOL football players will get a chance to play "College Football"; and only 2% of College Football players will get drafted to the NFL, it makes a lot more sense to get into the best school you can. And if sports can help you get there, then fine.

My son got accepted to quite a few colleges/universities. Academics was definitely the main reason, but also for football. He wanted the military, so he turned down some pretty good schools and accepted the air force academy. While he did play football at the academy for a bit, he knew that wasn't going to be his "Future". So he concentrated on his grades, graduated the academy in a pretty good position, and got accepted for grad school out of the academy.

I and my family LOVE college athletics. Love playing and watching it. But hopefully, the individual applying to college; "Especially a military academy", isn't relying on sports. The academies have turned down a few 4-5 star athletes "That I know of", because they simply couldn't qualify. And if they did somehow get into the academy, they'd probably never graduate. A fellow student who went to high school with my son and daughter, graduated at 19 years old because he got left back a couple times. But he was a star athlete. 5 schools wanted him for basketball. "Big Schools". They had to HELP HIM get a high enough ACT/SAT just to get into school. He wound up going to Wake Forest. Was a start there too. He took all the easy/elective classes his first 2 years. When it was time to actually take "Real Classes", he AND the coach/counselors knew he'd NEVER be able to graduate college. And if he's failing classes, he can't play basketball. Fortunately for him, he entered the NBA draft after his 2nd year in college. He did get drafted and is actually playing pro in the NBA today. But that is very rare. And if he wasn't that good and got cut, he'd have NOTHING to fall back on. Imagine applying to a military academy where even the EASIEST Major "Matter of perspective", still has to take engineering, math, science, etc. classes.
 
Christcorp said:
I and my family LOVE college athletics. Love playing and watching it. But hopefully, the individual applying to college; "Especially a military academy", isn't relying on sports. The academies have turned down a few 4-5 star athletes "That I know of", because they simply couldn't qualify. And if they did somehow get into the academy, they'd probably never graduate. A fellow student who went to high school with my son and daughter, graduated at 19 years old because he got left back a couple times. But he was a star athlete. 5 schools wanted him for basketball. "Big Schools". They had to HELP HIM get a high enough ACT/SAT just to get into school. He wound up going to Wake Forest. Was a start there too. He took all the easy/elective classes his first 2 years. When it was time to actually take "Real Classes", he AND the coach/counselors knew he'd NEVER be able to graduate college. And if he's failing classes, he can't play basketball. Fortunately for him, he entered the NBA draft after his 2nd year in college. He did get drafted and is actually playing pro in the NBA today. But that is very rare. And if he wasn't that good and got cut, he'd have NOTHING to fall back on. Imagine applying to a military academy where even the EASIEST Major "Matter of perspective", still has to take engineering, math, science, etc. classes.
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Jeff Teague?
 
Regarding those talented to play D1 but chose to play D3:
With D3 you can have a life; D1, not so much. DD used to practice basketball with a girl who went to UConn, a D1 program. The team had 6 days off a year. You have to love basketball a lot to play or train to play it almost the whole year. FYI: The young lady is now married, a mother, & in the WNBA. And yes I have her autograph!
 
2024candidate123 said:
Does USAFA and other service academies' recruited athletes also require a congressional nomination?
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I would suggest when you find the "technical definition" for "recruited athlete" that you post the source and possibly a weblink for all those others who might want details.
 
Wishful said:
Regarding those talented to play D1 but chose to play D3:
With D3 you can have a life; D1, not so much. DD used to practice basketball with a girl who went to UConn, a D1 program. The team had 6 days off a year. You have to love basketball a lot to play or train to play it almost the whole year.
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That depends on the school. I frequently have varsity athletes in my classes (hmm, does that say something about me as a Prof?) and while they work very hard, it is not as intense as you describe and also varies by sport (which is probably how the coach operates). My D1 Soccer players have it different than my D1 Mens Basketball player which is in turn different from my Womens BB players and track folks, etc.
 
Lots of variation depending on the amount of travel required by the sport, in season vs out of season, how much mid-week competition there is vs mostly weekend sports, how the coach chooses to run things, how rigorous the school is and a host of other factors. But at many schools a D1 scholarship means at least 11 months of training, required study tables every night for at least the first year or two, limits on available majors, limits on where you live and who you live with, no study abroad, travel during the school week with many missed classes and the constant, lurking chance that you could lose your scholarship after any year. Lots of programs only feature some of these, but it's very rare to have more than a month off.

An SA is an extremely unique beast compared to other schools, but in a way every student at an academy is living as compressed, restricted and stressful a life as a D1 student-athlete elsewhere. Both require a choice to give up some aspects of a normal college experience for a chance at excellence within a narrower scope. A choice to stay in D3 is sort of similar to going ROTC instead of SA, in that you don't give up as much and you retain more of the normal college life. Parts are better, parts are worse, but the student's priorities determine which are which.
 
Agree that D3 is less demanding and time-consuming than D1. But don’t take that to mean it’s a breeze. Far from it. My niece played D3 soccer at a liberal-arts college in the South. Started every game her first two years, on teams that were quite competitive. But decided that this was enough — that she wanted to devote her last two years to academics so she could attend grad school, and to other more-important activities. Coach said if she couldn’t give even more to the team, that she should quit. So she did. With no regrets.

If anything, I think this speaks to how absolutely grueling it must be to be a D1 athlete. And even more so at an SA.
 
Interesting my co-worker just told me that his son got recruited into Air Force Academy as Football athlete student without any need for nomination. I guess the system is a black box after all.
 
Cavewoman said:
Interesting my co-worker just told me that his son got recruited into Air Force Academy as Football athlete student without any need for nomination. I guess the system is a black box after all.
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His son may be a blue chip.
 
Cavewoman said:
Interesting my co-worker just told me that his son got recruited into Air Force Academy as Football athlete student without any need for nomination. I guess the system is a black box after all.
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Is he a junior who’s “committed?” Or a senior with an offer of appointment in hand? Big difference. He still has to be found fully qualified.

He will have a nom. It may just be one from the Superintendent’s discretionary noms, which aren’t applied for. That’s a “blue chip.” That just leaves more room on elected officials’ slates for other qualified applicants to gain a nom, so look at it that way.

That student may also be sent to USAFAPS, so Class of 2027 down the road.
 
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Capt MJ said:
Is he a junior who’s “committed?” Or a senior with an offer of appointment in hand? Big difference. He still has to be found fully qualified.

He will have a nom. It will just be one from the Superintendent’s discretionary noms, which aren’t applied for. That’s a “blue chip.” That just leaves more room on elected officials’ slates for other qualified applicants to gain a nom, so look at it that way.

That student may also be sent to USAFAPS, so Class of 2027 down the road.
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Not necessarily. Just because they are blue chipped doesn’t mean they are automatically charged with a supe’s nom. If they earn their own nom they could be charged to that source - that was the case with my kid. How do I know? No one else from our district was appointed.

Everyone automatically assumes recruits can’t win their slate on their own merit. But many can and do.

We also don’t know how many WCS points a candidate gets for being a recruit.

Discretionary noms are limited in number, and coaches and admissions only have so many to spread around. The coaches encourage recruits to earn their own nom because of this. It’s is a point of discussion in the recruiting process and/or when they are completing applications. If you don’t earn your own nom they will try to find you one.

Edit: the term Blue Chip in reference to sports recruiting at the academies doesn’t have a strict definition, at least not that is available to us. It is a term of art, but it is used in the athletic departments at the DOD Academies.
 
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