What are considered the "highly competitive districts"?

I don’t have stats but I would say areas around Raleigh/Cary and then those surrounding the Camp Lejeune/Cherry Point/New River area due to military dependents applying. Purely speculative on my part, but those would be guesses.
 
Agree on the areas around Fayetteville too. Probably more USMA #1 picks, but that is just a guess.
 
This tends to get a lot on here. Unless your family is planning to relocate to a district you consider 'less' competitive, it really doesn't matter. I would instead consider all aspects of applying as a competition, since far more apply than get an appointment each year.
 
Building on NavyHoops’ point, the predominant branch presence in a district likely correlates to greater competitiveness for the corresponding SA. So that the districts near Fort Bragg are more competitive for USMA and the districts near Camp Lejeune are more competitive for USNA. We have this dynamic in Colorado, where the majority of candidates are most interested in USAFA. If a candidate is open to different SAs/branches, could certainly work this dynamic to their advantage.
 
But as time2 just alluded, don’t fixate on competitiveness of a district. Focus on making your own candidacy as strong as possible, because it only takes one person — one! — with a better WCS to beat you out.
 
Agree on not fixating on this. It’s something you can’t control. There are so many things in this process that you can control and others you can’t. Focus on those you can. You can control putting the best package together you can. At the end of the day if you can say you did everything you can, then you did your job.
 
... and make sure to apply for the appropriate ROTC scholarships as a backup plan, and then PLC or OCS as fits your circumstances.
 
NavyHoops said:
Agree on not fixating on this. It’s something you can’t control. There are so many things in this process that you can control and others you can’t. Focus on those you can. You can control putting the best package together you can. At the end of the day if you can say you did everything you can, then you did your job.
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definitely not fixated, just curious since I see people comment about it. makes sense about the nearby areas with army bases and naval bases. thanks for the insights! and we are also definitely doing the ROTC backup route :). All the options are open!!!!
 
Just my experience and observation. Based on the past threads and past 4 years interactions with MIDNs, Cadets, and Admissions at USNA, USMA, USAFA, following states have super competitive districts. Thus, unless you are a recruited athlete with strong overall qualities or have stellar academics and or leadership, your chances are a lot lower or slim if you live in super competitive districts inside states with large volume of applicants. I am characterizing these super competitive candidates who are equally competitive at America’s top 20 national colleges that include the Ivies, MIT, CalTech, Stanford, Duke, Chicago, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, Emory.

However, even in these states there are few non competitive districts that are non competitive impacted by demographics, social / economic makeup, and little military presence and tradition in the area.

These are some of the most competitive states based on quantity applying vs quality of applicants and number of candidates receiving Noms. Obviously, bigger states get more Noms and representation. I don’t want to get in trouble by those who feel differently so please excuse me if I left out your states:

New York
New Jersey
California
Virginia
Maryland - most selective to USNA
Texas
Florida
Pennsylvania
Colorado - most selective to USAFA
Arizona - most selective to USAFA
Hawaii - more selective to USNA, USMA
 
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This goes yrs back, but I would not consider NC to be HIGHLY competitive since the MoCs do not talk. My DS was an AF brat, we were stationed at Seymour and he only applied for USAFA noms. He got all 3 MoC noms. Highly competitive like VA is where the MoCs all talk, and getting just 1 nom is an achievement.
~ I recall going to nomination selection reception for the Senator, and I would say he was the norm, getting all 3 noms. 1 actually got a nom to USNA and USMMA from the same senator.

This brings it back to submit the best packet you can submit because in the end, since they don't talk you could find yourself with only 1 nom (congressman/woman) and not the top for the state.
~ Highly competitive states where they talk also make it difficult for kids applying to multiple SAs. USNA may be your number 1, but you feel that you would be okay with going to USAFA or USMA also, thus, you now spread your wealth by ranking each SA a different number 1 for each MoC. Be careful doing this because you may only get 1 nom and not to your top pick SA.
~~ A friend's DS in CO did this. He placed USAFA on 1 MOC, USNA on 2 of the other MOCs. He got principal to USAFA and no nom to USNA. Fortunately for him the principal on the USNA slate wanted USAFA. The MoC contacted that person and they were happy to swap. Had they not wanted USAFA, he probably would be a Captain in the AF, and not a LT. in the Navy.
 
It's not every district in a state that is competitive. Take VA. The areas around NoVA and Norfolk tend to be super-competitive. However, other parts of the state would probably be on the "average" scale.

Another point to consider. It's not uncommon in competitive districts/states for multiple candidates off an MOC slate (or with other noms) to be appointed. In a less competitive district, you may need to win your slate to get an appointment.
 
Yes, it can vary greatly within a given state and a big part of that is not only candidate interest but more importantly the schools. Here in New Jersey, we may not do everything well but our public schools tend to be very good with the vast majority of districts offering many AP courses. Each county offers specialist high schools for kids who pass the tests and are motivated to travel. Not every Congressional District is as competitive but I live in one of the most competitive and we have high schools, PUBLIC High Schools with average SAT scores in the 1400's. My BGO schools straddle two districts and I have some in my district and some in the adjoining district. Being competitive is often very different in the two districts and in mine, I can't remember any noms going to applicants below 1420 or so. In the other district, I've seen mid 1300's get noms with math of 680. To the posters who point out that it only takes one great candidate in even a less competitive district, I'll relate that I had a candidate last year in my less competitive district with a 1560 SAT, multiple sports etc plus service on the local First Aid Squad, etc. He is a plebe now.

In terms of candidate interest, I'll shift to our experience when my son applied. Our district is in Northern NJ and I can be at West Point in under an hour (good grocery shopping at their commissary) and USNA is 4 or so hours away. At the close of the interviews/nominations phase, the MOC held a reception for his candidates (before noms were announced) which we attended. Lots of folks there and it was hard to know the "demographics" until the Congressman posed for pictures with the applicants to each academy. West Point had 7 with him, USNA had 20, USAFA had 3 and USMMA had 2. Now of course this was not a mandatory event but since noms had not been announced, there was motivation to attend. Of course we can't conclude that those were all of the applicants but my guess is that the rough percentages were probably close.

Also, I've served on the interview boards for both senators for 15 or so years now and the mix is at least 50% USNA applicants with maybe 25%-30% West Point and the remaining kids mostly USAFA with a few USMMA hopefuls. Over the course of two days of interviews, I probably see at least 10 per day personally and its rare that I see more than one for USAFA. These are team interviews and my partners are often from the other academies and they see this as well. I paired up with an Air Force one star for several years and he found it strange as well especially since we have a decent Air Force footprint (McGuire AFB) in state.
 
Does anyone know how competitive Massachusetts is? The states I hear about on here that are most competitive are MD, CO, NY, VA, TX, CA, and a few more. I know it depends on the amount of applicants per year and the competition in a given year, but if anyone has any insight feel free to share because I don't hear much about MA on here!
 
The answer is same as mentioned above. Will you be more/less likely to apply to USNA based on that information?
 
When DS had his BGO interview, our BGO says the area of NC we live in is very competitive. We are in NC13. He also is assigned a few kids in NC6

He did tell us DS would be very competitive and has been reaching out to him every couple of weeks to see how he is doing, has he gotten DoDMERB cleared, etc.

We are CPR and waiting on DoDEMRB.

My bigger concern is the court ruling in NC that may force a redraw of our congressional districts before Nov. If that happens it could play havoc with those whose district changes right at or after the application deadline (high likelihood for us). Hopefully, they push this off until next election cycle.
 
time2 said:
The answer is same as mentioned above. Will you be more/less likely to apply to USNA based on that information?
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I was just looking see if there is any knowledge on MA out there, that is all. I am clearly inclined towards applying to USNA. Thanks anyway, this is a very informative thread.
 
@USNAismyplace, want to reiterate couple of points made by others. The state doesn’t matter as much as the district (e.g. Northern Virginia is far more competitive than Southwest Virginia). Numbers don’t really matter, because in a district, it only takes one person with a better WCS to beat you out. So worry about what you can control. Best wishes.
 
Statistically an area that covers Boston is probably fairly competitive. Dense population and good schools. I would imagine with Hanscom AFB also around that generally can lead to applicants especially for USAFA. It that is all speculative. None of us can give details unless there is someone from MA who has these details that is a BGO or sits on the nom panels. I live in a decent sized city. We have an Army base an hour or so away with very little Navy population in the state, but we had 12 get appointments to USNA this past year with another 3 to NAPS/Foundation. We had double the amount of applicants finish applications as we did the year before. I give this anecdotal info to just show it can vary from year to year and none of us can predict any of it. If MA coordinates noms then obviously it could be tougher.
 
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