<p>I was recruited to run Cross country late in my junior year. Before then, I never even considered the Academy. I received letters from the coaches about the opportunities and I was like "man this is awesome!" I was really excited about it after that, but I was advised that I still had to obtain a nomination and go through the whole process.</p>
<p>Every MOC has at least one slot open. Being a Principal Nominee makes it almost impossible not to get in unless you fail the DoDMERB tests. Almost every nominee gets to the academy somehow through qualified alternates, people who decline appointments, NAPS, or foundation scholarship.</p>
<p>In the movie Annapolis, you may remember how the Admissions officer walked up to Jake on the last day before I-day. Could that happen? Would they really offer an appointment that late?</p>
<p>They had one real shot of the speech on I-Day. "Fifty thousand young men and women requested information at the beginning of this year. Only twelve hundred and seven of you were deemed worthy enough to walk through these gates. Most of you will not make it...." But that's it. They had no support from the Navy for it. Plus it was primarily focused on a relationship between an upperclassmen and a plebe (BS!!!) as well as boxing (yes there's boxing at USNA...but lotssss of other stuff too).</p>
<p>lol I still saw it though. And I was thrilled about the whole Annapolis theme. Even though it was a horrible movie, I still enjoyed it because it was about USNA.</p>
<p>In a meeting at USNA last Fall, with my son's regional admissions director(she was incredible!), we were told that last year an appointment was offered the day before I-Day!</p>
<p>Gonavy XC:
You are somewhat naive in your assumptions regarding appointments. Look at the profile for the class of '09 and you will notice that 4,320 applicants had nominations and only 1503 of them were offered appointments. That hardly translates to "Almost every nominee gets to the academy somehow through qualified alternates, people who decline appointments, NAPS, or foundation scholarship." </p>
<p>There are many disappointed candidates who regularly communicated on this forum who were "qualified" and received a nomination, but no appointment.</p>
<p>In order for a principal nominee to receive an appointment, he/she must meet the minimum qualifications, academically, physically and medically. And yes, there could be other nominees on the slate who are more highly qualified than the principal nominee but do not receive an appointment.</p>
<p>There's no way there were 4000+ ACTUAL nominations. There may have been 4000+ people ranked by senators for nominations. Keep in mind an MOC can put up to 10 people per nomination slot. Doesn't mean they'll have that many, but they can.</p>
<p>"4,320 applicants had nominations and only 1503 of them were offered appointments."</p>
<p>Nominations are given out like candy. The appointment eventually comes from the initial nomination. So, only 1,503 were actually offered appointments.</p>
<p>lol usnso you are ridiculously obsessed. nominations are not 'given out like candy', although there are 4000+ given out. i would like to mention that you will be, as you are from NY, facing stiff competition to obtain one.</p>
<p>Obviously, they're not given out like candy at parades or something. It was an idiom. Compared to the rest of the application process, the nomination is actually a piece of cake. It's more of a formality than anything else. Also, it's a way for Annapolis to delegate admission authority to the MOCs to "filter out" the totally unqualified and inadmissible.</p>
<p>actually, thats not the moc's job at all really. its more as a balancing force to make the sure the necessary distribution of mids from the different states and territories reflects populations in those respective areas. ie why more are from california than anywhere else. why would annapolis need to "delegate admission authority to the moc's"? as congressman and senator they have more than enough to fill their plate...aka running the legislative branch of our government. annapolis is perfectly capable of "filtering out" those unqualified on its own.</p>
<p>also, your rabid posting has me a bit confused. how on earth do you have so much time? and as an english major, nice idiom.</p>
<p>Believe me, congressional nominations for USNA are not handed out like candy. We had, in our district, 40+ looking for 10 available slots that we could place on the list (and I don't see our area as highly competitive as Maryland or VA). There were many highly competent applicants that did not receive a nomination this year.
There was not one unqualified or inadmissable candidate that I saw this year, they were all very impressive and capable of succeeding at the Academy.
To reiterate what candidatemom stated, there are many who do receive nominations, but not offered an appointment. It's just all part of the process.</p>
<p>I realize this. Basically, what I was saying is that it's easier to obtain a nomination from a MOC than it is to actually get into the Academy. Proof lies within the numbers.</p>
<p>Number of applicants with an official nomination: 4,320<br>
Offers of admission: 1,503</p>
<p>Again, it's not necessarily EASY to obtain a nomination. But that's definitely not the end of the road. There's still a lot of work and plugging away and dedication needed to actually get there.</p>
<p>The post labeled, "USNSO is Awesome!" is a joke! Don't be confused. It's a joke. Don't get all huffy and angry. IT'S A JOKE! (Some people have a hard time realizing that.)</p>