Worried Father

[Hebaragi]

A few days ago I found this Forum and found it to be very helpful. But. I could not find any discussion about 2 things.

First, my DS portal page has incomplete on his Medical Status. We think he was given this status due to his Eczema. DOD sent a form to be filled out and we returned the form with information stating that he was cleared of his Eczema condition at the age of 10. This was about 8 days ago and his Medical Status is still incomplete. Would this hurt his chance of getting an appointment at this time? What can we do at this time to clear this? We try to get the update from the link on the portal, but the link is not working to DOD.

Second, does candidate with Primary Congregational Nominee have a better chance of getting the appointment then a regular nomination?

 

[Capri120]

Updates on the portal, including medical, can take 2 - 4 weeks since the information has to go to DoDMERB, then the Academy, then be processed, etc. etc. I would not be too worried yet.

Second, I am guessing you mean Principal nominee versus Primary? If Principal, then for USAFA, yes the person has a better chance of getting an appointment over a regular nomination since IF they are qualified medically, academically, physically, meeting all of USAFA's minimum requirements, they are somewhat "guaranteed" an appointment.

 

[KLCman]

A few days ago I found this Forum and found it to be very helpful. But. I could not find any discussion about 2 things.

First, my DS portal page has incomplete on his Medical Status. We think he was given this status due to his Eczema. DOD sent a form to be filled out and we returned the form with information stating that he was cleared of his Eczema condition at the age of 10. This was about 8 days ago and his Medical Status is still incomplete. Would this hurt his chance of getting an appointment at this time? What can we do at this time to clear this? We try to get the update from the link on the portal, but the link is not working to DOD.

Second, does candidate with Primary Congregational Nominee have a better chance of getting the appointment then a regular nomination?

Don't worry about it not being on the portal, I had a few of those worries myself while I was applying. It can take at least 2 weeks to appear on the portal. I understand your concern I was there myself.

As for the nominations, the academy evaluates each candidate themselves, so just as long as he has a nomination is all that counts. Not all senators and congressmen rank their nominations. The academy won't be overly concerned with that.

 

[Hebaragi]

Thank you Capri120 for clarifying my question. I was mistaken about the correct term. DS's ALO and the AROTC intervening officer informed my DS that he does qualify in all area and has passed his CFA. We are now doing the waiting game just like so many other Candidate. Thank you for the information as to how long it will take for the portal to get updated. Also thank you for clarifying the Principal Nominee term.

 

[USMA 1994]

The principal nominee on a slate can change your chances of admission. There are three ways a MOC can submit his nominations.

#1 Competitive slate. The MOC nominates up to ten individuals and lets the academy rank and pick who they think is the best candidate. At the congressional level, this is the most common method. When the application period closes, your DD is compared against the other candidates nominated by the MOC and the highest ranking candidate gets the offer of appointment.
#2 Principal Nominee with unranked alternates. The MOC has identified the individual who they would want to get the appointment and as long as that candidate meets the minimum requirements determined by the academy, they will get the offer of appointment. If the principal is not qualified for what ever reason, the academy will rank the other nine candidates and chose who they feel is the best candidate.
#3 Principal Nominee with ranked alternates. The MOC has identified the individual who they would want to get the appointment and as long as that candidate meets the minimum requirements determined by the academy, they will get the offer of appointment. If the principal is not qualified for what ever reason, the academy would offer the second ranked individual and then go down the list. This is the least likely of the options and it gets fuzzy as you go down the list. If for some reason they get to #4 or #5 they may not offer that candidate.

Any candidate that is fully qualified and not offered an appointment from the scenarios above will be placed on the NWL and will compete for an appointment against all other individuals that did not win their nomination source's primary slate. There are around 150 individuals pulled off the NWL each year.

While there will be exceptions and special circumstances, this is generally how the admission process works.

If you have questions about outstanding parts of your application, your DS should contact his academy admissions representative and ask if there is anything else they need. Updates to the portal can take time.