<p>Does anyone know where I can find out how competitive my congressional district is with nominations/applications?</p>
<p>Start with your Congressman's web site and look for press releases from the past few years with a list of names and nominations. In the case of our district our Congressman typically nominates close to a full slate of names for the USNA (8-10) but usually only has 3 or 4 names listed for USAF nominations. USMA falls somewhere in the middle in total numbers nominated. </p>
<p>You may also want to inquire about ranking. Does your Congressman rank his/her nominees or just provide each SA with a slate of potential candidates for them to choose? </p>
<p>Getting more detailed information from your Senators may be difficult outside of the general guidelines they may provide for prospective applicants; minimum scores etc. Nominations from your Senators are typically more competitive with appointment boards used to evaluate/interview all the candidates that make the first cut. </p>
<p>Beyond that I would suggest you just focus on becoming the best applicant that you can and leave the aspects of your nomination that are completely outside of your control to those charged with making the decision. </p>
<p>Good luck with your application.</p>
<p>There is no "sourcebook" on this. Typically, competitive districts include those around large military bases, as well as many -- but not all -- districts in competitive states such as CA, FL, TX, MD, VA, and PA. </p>
<p>You might ask your MOC's office how many applications they had last year. They may or may not tell you. Your BGO also likely has a good sense based on his/her past experience. </p>
<p>Fact is that, for almost everyone, district of residence is something you can't change. Thus, you can only do your very best wherever you are.</p>
<p>Theoretically, all congressional districts should be about the same because of roughly approximate number of constituents. (I realize that is not always true though.)</p>
<p>Where the competition really is different would be for a nomination from a Senator. Each state only has 2 senators, and obviously a larger state has more constituents leading to more applicants, which in turn raises the competition.</p>
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Theoretically, all congressional districts should be about the same because of roughly approximate number of constituents. (I realize that is not always true though.)
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<p>No, it's really not for two reasons. First, some districts have a lot more students interested in pursuing a military career, often because they are districts with a military base and thus have lots of military brats or just kids who grew up seeing a lot of military. Second, some districts are simply more academically competitive than others. The combination, such as in the greater DC area, can make things very difficult for even strong candidates. However, these very competitive areas typically send a very large number of students to the SAs. So, it generally works out in the end for most candidates.</p>