<p>It is likely that there aren't enough competitive applicants to neccesitate weeding some out</p>
<p>Dad2B'2010 -- Kerry's office acted in a similar manner to me. I got my Presidential nom, which I think is supposed to satisfy the conditions of my LOA anyway, but my Regional Director said to keep applying for nominations. Lynch said he'd give me one without the interview because I have the LOA, but then Kerry called last week and told me that I should pull my app because of the Pres. nom, but if I really wanted to come in for an interview I could. I let it go, thinking that since I already have 2 noms and an LOA I should let someone else get this one, but it bothered me that they wanted to not even interview me because I already had a nom. </p>
<p>Oh, just talked to my friend -- he just got the call that they did indeed narrow it down to 20, and Kerry has avoided the interviews. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, I haven't heard anything from Kennedy except when they called saying I needed to send my SATs from collegeboard, when their website clearly stated that they could be included in your transcript. Well, that whole section of their website was messed up, I'm sure you saw...the due date was a month off, and the application which was supposed to be downloadable wasn't. Have you heard anything?</p>
<p>Isn't that weird that Kerry was able to narrow it down to 20 in the whole state in this way?</p>
<p>Can't help a political jab, boston_usmc, but anything John Kerry does is wierd. Witness his awful comments about our troops on the Sunday shows just yesterday. God help us all.</p>
<p>You in Mass with Kerry/Kennedy</p>
<p>us in CA with Boxer/Feinstein.</p>
<p>oh, well</p>
<p>I am thankful for being in Ohio.</p>
<p>I had to go through Texas. Cornyn/Huchison</p>
<p>Thank god for Texas. I have been nothing but pleased with my MOC's offices and processes. Great people.</p>
<p>boston usmc -
Nothing from Kennedy. His whole process is so unprofesional. The xerox of the application he sent was like the 100th generation of copy and was tilted about 20 degrees! So much so, that my son could not manage to overlay computer generated data without making it look even worse...so he filled it out by hand. My son got the same last minute call for the SAT scores (again, in contrary to what the application letter said). I ended up spending extra cash to rush scores to him.</p>
<p>I'm not happy with the Kerry deal...fair for those in more need of a nomination, but still takes away from my son's chances.</p>
<p>haha peskemom, i totally hear ya!</p>
<p>yeah, kennedy's whole process was very unprofessional...it took calling every day for over a week to actually get someone to talk to me on the phone!</p>
<p>I think I had to call Kennedy's office everyday for two weeks before I even got someone on the phone, and then they didn't send an applicaton out for several weeks after that. Kerry's office was difficult to deal with also, but in the end I hope it was worth all the trouble to receive a nomination!</p>
<p>OK one and all, I'll tell you the hysterical conversation I had on the phone with one of my Senators. I purposely won't say which one, since we are still in process of seeking a nomination.....but I did call one office and ask that since we had an LOA - does that make it more likely that we should expect at least a phone interview from their office? I mean, their paperwork tells us they get 1000 requests - so I was curious to know what the probabilites were about how helpful a Senator's office from CA really can be for us, and I thought that perhaps an LOA raises the probability that we might be considered for a phone interview. </p>
<p>When the person heard we had an LOA - they said : "We help the needy not the greedy" and told me to go talk to my Congressman. I was so stunned by his little ditty I asked him to repeat it - which amazingly he DID! And told me that an LOA tells them not to really bother with my child -....and that it was up to my local Congressman to give us the nomination, so I'd better be talking to them.</p>
<p>So I guess we won't be waiting for any phone calls from Sacramento anytime soon.</p>
<p>Too bad....thought maybe the tone of our senatorial experience might have given you heads up to let them find out about the LOA on their own! I'm sure you'll be fine though. Best of luck!!!</p>
<p>Wow, in New Jersey, both Corzine and Lautenberg were very professional and took it all seriously. (Interviews were two weeks ago though we haven't heard back). But, our congressman, Rodney Frelingheysen was the best -- he really cares, having hosted and then personally shown up on "Academy night". His office already sent a nomination letter after only one week.</p>
<p>The NH MOC and their offices were very helpful as well. As far as I know everyone gets an interview (there are also less candidates). They also got their replies out quickly as well.</p>
<p>Wow: some of this is really surprising. Here in Maryland, each of our Senators gets over 500 applications to USNA every year, and our congressman alone had almost 200. I can hardly believe that Kerry had only 23 to evaluate! </p>
<p>Population of Massachusetts: 6,349,097
Population of Maryland: 5,296,486
Number of Congressional Districts in Massachusetts: 10
Number of Congressional Districts in Maryland: 8</p>
<p>Kind of puts "competitive state" in perspective...</p>
<p>Nominations remain a competetive process- especially so on both coasts. In the end you need only one- having more will not help your chances of admission, but having less will certainly stop its progress.</p>
<p>Be happy when you receive a nomination, from any source- it's an honor to get even that far.</p>
<p>There were about 30+ USNA interviews for our Cong district alone, and I'm sure not all apps got an interview. I am sure that the MA senators had hundreds of applicants, but Kerry's folks had screened them down to only 23 worthy of an interview. Competition level is all relative to who is doing the screening and what method and cutoff they use. Kerry always has only 25-30 interviews scheduled in the end, however, he definitely gets 100's of apps. It just so happens that this year, Kerry had two slots open instead of the usual one. So normally, he is interviewing 25-30 for only 10 nominations. It makes sense to only interview the top candidates, however each may have a little different perspective on what makes a top candidate.</p>
<p>Oh, that makes more sense. In Maryland our senators do not appear to narrow down the list very much beyond certain minimum academic standards and completion of the application (and believe me, the applications are very long and very intense!) As I recall, on the interview day, there were multiple panels that did 15 minute interviews from early morning through late afternoon. The location my kid went to had at least 6 or 8 panels working simultaneously.</p>
<p>That was similar to here for interviews...2 days with multiple panels from early to late. I think they get everyone in though.</p>
<p>We are in West Virginia and our two Senators and congressman have not done nominations yet. Their offices say they do it at the end of the year. Well, they must be literally waiting until the absolute end!
I have had good luck getting the person in charge when I have called each office. Senator Byrd's office seems to be on top of things as he takes this very seriously. One of the offices does interviews, but the others do not.
My son is triple qualified but no LOA yet. I am wondering if getting the nomination will give him enough points to tip the scale in his favor. The whole process is so mysterious. After reading some posts about "points" I am imagining that each good thing received by the academy will add points--like sending grades every 9 weeks, or new, higher SAT scores, or the nomination. Is this how you all view things?</p>