Scholastically qualified?

<p>Last week I received a letter stating the Admissions Board had determined I was “scholastically qualified to compete from an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 2013”. The letter went on to explain that while being scholastically does not guarantee an offer of admission, it is a major step in the admissions process. Is it still possible that while the board has found me scholastically qualified (I am already medically qualified & did well on the CFA) and I receive a nomination I will not be offered an appointment? To sum it up: What does this mean in terms of ultimately receiving an appointment?</p>

<p>I have one of those also the way the track coach explained it to me is it says that USNA has looked at your packet and you are squared away and competitive for admission and they will let you know the final outcome later on really just saying we havent forgot about you and you passed step one </p>

<p>so yes even if you have a nomination this is not an LOA and you are not guarenteed acceptance they will have to accept reject decision later on</p>

<p>all true but the good news is, assuming you receive a nomination and you are triple q'd you are now in a pool of roughly 1800. If they select about 1500 out of those 1800 for offers of appointment you can see that your odds have increased substantially</p>

<p>good luck</p>

<p>I copied this from another board. It's not the post that I was looking for, but it is pretty direct. There will be approx. 400-500 kids who are 3Qed, who will not get in. Some of these will have nomination letters from their MOC, but were not selected as the primary nominee. It's a tough place to be and it's harder seeing other kids slotted for NAPS and and an appointment next year, but that's the system.</p>

<p>What is the Admissions Board looking for? Why does the candidate complete multiple application sections?</p>

<p>Firstly, they are looking for achievement. Easy to measure. Easy to quantify.</p>

<p>Secondly, they are looking for attitude. This could be difficult but a good BGO can help.</p>

<p>Thirdly, they are looking for motivation. A bit harder. But measurable by both what and how the candidate has performed to date.</p>

<p>Next, they are looking for character. Teacher recommendations are important but this may only be truly measurable over time.</p>

<p>Lastly, they are looking for potential. Will the candidate graduate and then remain in the service beyond obligation. This is extremely difficult to measure. The BGOs attitude assessment combined with achievement to date and all the other above factors all play a part in this.</p>

<p>These are the factors assessed for a scholastic qualification. Remember that only a part of this is the pure academic qualification of which there are minimum requirements which, if not met, no matter what the whole person multiplier, will result in a Not Qualified score.</p>

<p>The Academy must also address the minimum cutoff for qualification which will result in a reasonable chance of success.</p>

<p>Now the fun begins. The Board meets and the result is usually somewhere around 1900 candidates who are successful based on the above grading card. There will be only 1500 offers. What happens to the bottom 400 qualified candidates beyone the primary nominees in the least competitive districts and the recruited athletes? Were they qualified academically? Yes. Were they prepared to meet the academic requirements of the Academy? Yes. Why were they not selected? They were at the bottom of the pack in their achievement, attitude, motivation, character, and potential as measured by the board.</p>

<p>Is this the type individual that we want to come back the following year and compete with that new group? Do we want to give them incentives? I don’t think so. Let them prove attitude and motivation by going to a university on their own. Let them increase their achievement and potential by successfully completing course work on their own. This is the character that causes the Board to give them the green cube on their second look.</p>

<p>In summary, if the Board was correct on the first look, only a portion of these candidates will prove them wrong and provide the necessary groundwork to be successful again.</p>

<p>The following is an actual composite conversation I have had with several triple qualified unsuccessful candidates:</p>

<p>Me: “You need to go to a good state university and take calculus, chemistry, and composition English. You also need to retake your SATs and get a 600/600 minimum.”</p>

<p>Unsuccessful Candidate (UC): “My girlfriend has a job here in town. Can I go to the local community college instead.”</p>

<p>Me: “These are Academy guidelines. It might depend on the strength of the remainder of your package but, to be safe, if I were you, I would follow their instructions.”</p>

<p>UC: “Do I have to take calculus. I am not very good in math and would probably flunk it.”</p>

<p>Me: “Enroll in State U. Take precalc this summer at the community college and you should be prepared.”</p>

<p>UC: “I have this neato job lined up at the beach this summer so I just couldn’t take any classes.”</p>

<p>Me: “Well, you will just have to establish your priorities and determine what is important.”</p>

<p>UC: “I don’t think I can handle five years of college. Doesn’t the Navy still have OCS? I may look into that.”</p>

<p>I hate to generalize, but the attributes that place at least some of the 3Qed at the bottom of the list were correctly assessed by the board the first time around. Remembering that these candidates by nature of their qualification, are capable of handling the academics, an extra year of government sponsored taxpayer paid education is not what they need. Let them prove themselves on their own.</p>

<p>If have not received an "academically qualified letter." Does that mean that I am not academically qualified? I received an email that said I needed to retake the CFA, which I did: but I have not received anything about my academics. My scores are not the greatest, but I do think they are within the limits. </p>

<p>In other words, does everyone who is academically qualified receive a letter saying so?</p>

<p>as far as i know yes everyone who is academically qualified recieves one, however there is no real time limit as to how long it will be till that is determined for some people it is a few weeks and for others like me it was several months</p>

<p>really no reasoning to it just depends on whether they coin flip to look at your file or the next one</p>

<p>Not everyone gets the "scholastically qualified" letter. There are many of the Midshipmen at USNA that never got that letter and yet they got an appointment. Just as there are many that are not attending USNA that got the letter and never got the appointment. </p>

<p>With that said, if you got the letter then consider yourself extremely lucky. The absolute best advice I can give each of you applying is to be sure that you have a great Plan B in place. April is a long way away and you want to be prepared for the worst while shooting for the best to come through. </p>

<p>If you have not received the "scholastically qualified" letter then you are still eligible for consideration to NAPS or the Foundation programs. Those programs are not available to those who have been qualified scholastically. </p>

<p>I do know of one particular candidate from a couple of classes back that was Triple Q'd, had secued 3 different nominations, and everyone on the outside thought was a perfect selection for appointment. This particular person did not receive the appointment but was waitlisted. Unfortunately that summer this person was just too far down on the waitlist. Therefore Plan B came into play and this individual is enjoying a productive and happy college career while participating in NROTC. </p>

<p>To 13274875: Congrats on what you have achieved. Work on Plan B options. Stay strong and hopeful. Enjoy your senior year. April is just around the corner although it will seem like forever. Answers could come before then, but be prepared to wait until the very end. </p>

<p>To dauntless: You are not out of the running until you get the official letter telling you that you are. If they have asked for a repeat of your CFA, they are taking a second look at you. Think positive, you may just have that one spark of something that only those on the admission's committee know. If USNA is your dream, let them know that. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to get there? Would you consider an appointment to NAPS or a Fundation program? Let them know this. Keep those lines of communication open as long as it takes. Be prepared to wait it out. I would also encourage you to work on your Plan B options as well.</p>

<p>Thanks, navy_clarinetMom. Your words are an encouragement to me.</p>