<p>Or am I wrong? I thought I read from somewhere awhile back that the nomination process or.. a certain aspect of it was different than the other academies.</p>
<p>Nope you read wrong. It's the same. "Candidates must be nominated to the Academy by a U.S. Representative or Senator. Candidates may only be nominated by qualified authorities from their state or territory."</p>
<p>The only academy that is different is the CGA where you DO NOT need a congressional nomination. If you are applying for the class of 2012 you better get busy with the nominations now. Also, I believe there is an Admissions Open House this Friday 10 August at KP, so if you can you may want to try to attend.</p>
<p>Not really from your vantage point. You will still go through the exact same process. From what I understand, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, the difference is that rather than each MOC having their own quota for the USMA, USNA and USAFA, each state has a quota for the USMMA. You still go thorugh the same process by applying to your Senator or Representative to receive a nomination. Again, USCGA does not require a nomination.</p>
<p>Maj I believe each state has a quota for all the academies.......at least that's what I understood from Sentaor Allen's office last year in Virginia.</p>
<p>Here is a short explaination from Ohio Congressman Paul Gillmor's website that might clarify:</p>
<p>U.S. Air Force Academy
U.S. Military Academy (West Point)
U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis)</p>
<p>The President, the Vice President, U.S. Senators, and Members of the House of Representatives have the authority to nominate persons for admission to the Air Force Academy, West Point, and Annapolis.</p>
<p>As a Member of Congress, I am entitled to fill five vacancies at each academy. These vacancies are "charged" to the 5th district. Nominations can only take place when a vacancy occurs in one of these charged slots, either by reason of graduation or withdrawal.</p>
<p>When a vacancy occurs, I may nominate up to ten candidates for admission to the academy. When I submit the 5th district's ten nominees, the academy's admissions board will rank them according to objective standards (i.e., scholastic achievement, athletic achievement, etc.), and will then offer admission to the nominee who ranks highest among the ten that he has submitted.</p>
<p>The other nine nominees, assuming that each meets the minimum requirements for admission to the academy, are then placed in a qualified candidate pool. After every district's charged slots are filled, the academy will then look to those nominees in the qualified pool to fill the remaining slots.</p>
<p>Depending on the quality of nominees submitted, several more 5th district residents could receive appointments in the same year. In the past, our district's nominees have done very well. Although we are only entitled to five slots at each academy, the 5th District has consistently been represented by more than double our number of charged slots.</p>
<p>It is my goal to have as many young men and women from our district admitted as possible. The only way to accomplish that is to nominate high quality, committed candidates to each academy.</p>
<p>U.S. Merchant Marine Academy</p>
<p>Unlike the other academies, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy uses state quotas rather than district quotas.</p>
<p>The State of Ohio is entitled to eight slots in each admissions class. Each Member of Congress may submit up to ten names per year. These nominees then compete against all other nominees from Ohio for the eight slots.</p>
<p>After Ohio's eight slots are filled, those remaining Ohio candidates, who meet the minimum admissions standards for the academy, are placed in a national pool of candidates. Several states rarely fill their allotments, so Ohio usually has additional candidates admitted beyond our allotment of eight.</p>
<p>Another difference:</p>
<p>There are no Presidential, Vice-Presidential, military-affiliated, JROTC-honor unit, ROTC or Unit Commander, or Medal of Honor nominations permitted to the Merchant Marine Academy.</p>
<p>I see. Thanks folks. Can anyone tell me if USMMA has an online preapplication? I think I saw one, but it looked more like the actual online app.</p>
<p>Time's a-wasting. If you are a Senior, get the ball rolling BEFORE school starts and you have to balance trade-offs. </p>
<p>There's a lot of really useful information at each of the academies websites. Crawl through them in your investigation. Part of your investigation should be to download their Catalog and examine it carefully.</p>
<p>Call the academies. They will be happy to mail you information, and get you in contact with someone local for you to ask questions/guide you through the process.</p>
<p>So, decide what you're interested in, and pursue it -- quicker is better.</p>
<p>:confused:</p>