<p>I am an applicant of the class of 2019. I currently live in MD-03 district and I have received a letter of assurance. Despite my LOA, my gpa/test scores are low. Do you have any idea how the nomination process works for LOA recipients? Will Sarbanes/Mikulski/Cardin nominate me despite low test scores/gpa just because they know I would get in/it would not count towards their 5 allotted vacancies?</p>
<p>GO NAVY!</p>
<p>It will count against their 5 vacancies if they nominate you and you have no other nomination source i.e. Presidential, ROTC, etc. Most MOCs will give a nomination to those with an LOA, but there are situations where they have not, as well. If you have an LOA and no nomination, there is no guarantee that you will get an appointment, unless they give you the VP nom. Put your best foot forward, insure the MOCs know you have the LOA and highlight the reasons why the Naval Academy gave you the LOA to begin with. Obviously you have some superior qualities for them to have given you one.</p>
<p>Wait I thought a nomination from a MOC to a LOA recipient does not count as one of their 5 vacancies? </p>
<p>Yes, it absolutely counts toward their vacancy if that is what the candidate is the nomination that the candidate is appointed against. If an LOA recipient gets a nomination from the MOC, but the candidate also has a Presidential nom or another nom, the Academy may allow for the LOA candidate to go against the Presidential Slate, instead and allow one of your MOC’s other 9 nominees to get your MOC’s seat. </p>
<p>Well, actually, the Academy has other ways of moving vacancies around. For example, even though you are from Maryland, it is possible that you could technically count against vacancies from Wyoming because Wyoming has so few people and perhaps no truly qualified candidates came forward from that state (or they were barely qualified). This is sort of like the “horse trading” which they do on other issues.</p>
<p>However, you still have to get nominated through a MOC (or POTUS or VPOTUS). With the Wyoming scenario above, perhaps Cardin has only one current vacancy, but he nominates a typical slate of ten candidates (including you). USNA might choose somebody else for Cardin’s slot, but assign you to Wyoming. </p>
<p>Your job is to get the nomination. Period. Knowing that you have an LOA should not change your personal approach to this at all. You still have to go through the process. What happens behinds the scenes is irrelevant to you. Forget about it. It is absolutely trivial and unimportant.</p>
<p>If you get the nomination, you will get in. That’s all you need to concern yourself with. How the USNA sorts this out is not worth thinking about.</p>
<p>My process (many years ago and from a different state) consisted of passing the physical fitness exam and turning in an application file to my MOC, then having a personal interview with a panel that he convened, and answering all of their questions. If it is the same now, that application file and/or interview would be an ideal time to point out the LOA (I assume this is for an athletic recruitment?) and give assurances that if nominated, you meet all other qualifications and would be accepted and would attend. There are only so many spaces in any freshman class and each one is allocated to either a MOC or to the Pres/VP, so your space has to burn someone’s ticket. No worries, though- the LOA is very good insurance!</p>
<p>NROTCgradI don’t believe following is accurate. The nomination process is a matter of law and the SAs and Congress do not have the latitude to “horse-trade” and appoint a Maryland resident to a SA with a Wyoming MOC nomination. Would you please supply a source/reference for this statement?
</p>
<p>@aglages
I will have to research it again. But it was a very reliable source, as I recall (might even have been on the USNA website). Actually, it is not really horse trading. Bad analogy there. Still, my understanding is that excess vacancies happen when an MOC does not have any qualified applicants. Such vacancies are used in whatever way USNA sees fit, including candidates with an LOA.</p>
<p>Again, I will try to track down my source. It was a year or so back.</p>
<p>I remember a discussion on this a few years back and the final consensus was that because of the way the law was written, that neither the SAs nor the MOCs could just assign empty MOC noms to a candidate from another state. Of course the SA Superintendents each have something like 100 discretionary Noms that can be used for candidates from any state. </p>
<p>I have not been able to find my source. Just spent quite a while looking for it. Oh well.</p>
<p>Anyhow, this is what is sometimes called “inside baseball.” As I suggested to OP, it is ultimately irrelevant. He has to get a nomination through the normal process.</p>
<p>Yep, I have heard of those discretionary nominations from the Superintendents. Also, at least at USNA, nominations can be gotten through Naval ROTC and Junior NROTC. Every college NROTC unit can nominate three candidates. However, only about a 20 vacancies, nationwide, are filled this way. Lots of competition there.</p>
<p>If you have not seen this document, you will find it interesting.
<a href=“http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33213.pdf”>http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33213.pdf</a></p>
<p>Very informative. Thanks for posting the link!</p>
<p>I also live in Maryland 3D (applied for Sarbanes). Hm…I’ve had a chance to look at your threads. Would you mind telling me if you are a target candidate? Please don’t feel obliged. I am just curious. Also…I haven’t gotten an LOA. Do you need your personal statement item finished?</p>
<p>I’m not asking for any chance me but my stats:</p>
<p>I’m asian which makes everything ALOT worse my SAT scores are sh#t</p>
<p>gpa u: 3.76
gpa w: 4.45
rank unweighted: 19/238</p>
<p>All APs taken:
Calc AB
Calc BC
World
Chem
Physics Mech
Biology
Human Geo
English Language
English Literature
U.S. Government</p>
<p>Plenty of extracurriculars:
President of Asian Club
Vice President (was Secretary, SGA Representative) of HS fraternity chapter
SGA Representative of Class
Editor in Chief of School newspaper (great publicity [sponsored by local politicians])
Math Team, Honor Society
NHS
Art NHS
MESA competitions
Master of Ceremony
tutor
Canvassed for Gansler and Jon Weinstein (who won the latest election)
Ball boyed for Citi Open Tennis Tournament
helped disabled 4 hr every saturday</p>
<p>Sports:
Taekwondo (9 years 2nd degree)
Club Soccer (both teens and adult leagues)
JV Soccer (2 yr)
Tennis V (3 year co captain)
Indoor Track JV and V (2 years)
V XC (1 year)
Club Tennis
HS Frisbee Team</p>
<p>Awards:
Presidential Volunteer Service Award (over 500+ hr)
Maryland Governor Citation for Korean cultural exchange in Taekwondo performances
City of Baltimore, Department of Agriculture certificate for cultural stuff
biomedical program certificate at Uniformed Service Academy (surgery and research stuff) summer</p>
<p>…but
SAT scores:
630 math
630 cr rd</p>
<p>I’m so blown. I can’t pass this frickkin test. I hate it. I don’t want to do ACT for a couple of reasons…USNA prefers SAT and I’m already accustomed to SAT. I wouldn’t want to switch. I am going to do another test in January which is allowed for USNA and USMA. I’m not sure what I can do from here. A close friend of mine who is a senior at the Naval Academy has helped me for interviews and personal statement. Do I need to send my personal statement for an LOA. I am not expecting an LOA. All I want is to be accepted my a service academy. Yes my scores are absolute minimum dear god, but my dream is to be a commissioned officer.</p>
<p>PS
-my BGO is sorta slow in response and it takes her like a month to respond. should i take all Q to office?
-is it to late for BGO interviews? I have 6/7 items done (BGO has not responded and I emailed her a week ago from this date)</p>