Boarding the roller coaster (Service Academy Admissions process) starter advice:
- go to desired SA website (there are 5), read every page, dropdown and link, especially in Admissions area
- go to your elected representatives' sites (Sen and Rep), look for Service Academy Nomination pages, read every page/dropdown (USCGA does not require a nom)
- here on SAF, browse the Nominations forum, read Stickies at top of forums, search on "nominations" in SA forum of your choice, read the Acronyms stickie, search "Stats" and "Chance Me" threads to see the array of grades, test scores, courses, sports, leadership, etc.
Presidential noms are based on simple eligibility criteria. Several hundred candidates may qualify for one, but USNA, for example, only offers 100 appointments/class charged to a Presidential nom. If you haven't applied for any other noms from other sources, and aren't one of the 100, the roller coaster ride is essentially done. If you are a blue chip recruited athlete, you still need a nom, but there is advanced browsing to be done on that topic - too long to go into here. You have to have a nom AND be triple-qualified or 3Q to be offered an appointment. Siri says to go browse for the dozens of threads on that.
There is an annual rhythm to posts. This time of year, the appointments are starting to flow for 2021 applicants. 2022 hopefuls are doing their homework on primary sources, applying to SA summer programs, looking at summer programs such as Boys/Girls State, organizing their SA application timeline and To Do list.
