<p>Ive been reading around and I am completely lost as to how the whole nomination system works.</p>
<p>So far what I have concluded is that:</p>
<p>-Each MOC chooses 10 people.
-However of that 10 only 1 person is automatically in and then 4 more CAN get in?
-And people with principle noms are automatically in?
-if you have more than one, the academy gives your noms to other people?</p>
<p>but Ive been readin in other places where the senator nominated more than 10 people and more than 5 people from the state got in. So i was wondering how the whole thing works. plz and thnk u ^^</p>
<p>I can't answer all of your questions, but with regards to:</p>
<p>"-However of that 10 only 1 person is automatically in and then 4 more CAN get in?"</p>
<p>Just because you get a nom does NOT mean you get an appointment.</p>
<p>and</p>
<p>"And people with principle noms are automatically in?"</p>
<p>My principal nomination letter states that as long as I am minimally qualified (CFA, DoDMERB, grades), I am "guaranteed and appointment." We'll see if that holds true!</p>
<p>Where did you get 4 more? ARe you confusing the fact that every MOC can have 5 cadets at any given time?</p>
<p>The MOC slate goes up with 10 nominees. If it is a competitive slate the applicant with the highest WCS will be selected for an appt. </p>
<p>You only have 5 cadets per MOC, but you can also have cadets that received a presidential or a VP and not charged to the MOC.</p>
<p>If the MOC has 2 slots available they can nom. up to 20, but in the end the MOC's can gave only 5 cadets at anytime charged to them. It is a federal law. Just as there can only be 100 presidential cadets per year</p>
<p>
[quote]
Ive been reading around and I am completely lost as to how the whole nomination system works.</p>
<p>So far what I have concluded is that:</p>
<p>-Each MOC chooses 10 people.
-However of that 10 only 1 person is automatically in and then 4 more CAN get in?
-And people with principle noms are automatically in?
-if you have more than one, the academy gives your noms to other people?</p>
<p>but Ive been readin in other places where the senator nominated more than 10 people and more than 5 people from the state got in. So i was wondering how the whole thing works. plz and thnk u ^^
[/quote]
</p>
<p>the nomination process is the most confusing and misunderstood part of the application process.
You need to be nominated to become appointed.
Each MOC may choose up to 10 people for each slot they have available in a given year. Not every MOC will have enough applicants to choose 10 while some will have many more than 10 from which to choose.
The great majority of MOC's let the academy pick - the appointment will then be offered to the highest qualified candidate. If that candidate refuses then the next one is offered and so forth.
Each MOC may have a maximum of 5 people at each academy at any given time.
Those who choose the "prinicple" method - the appointment goes to the candidate only if he/she is QUALIFIED - medically, scholastically and physically. If not another candidate is chosen.</p>
<p>If you have more than one nomination - you will compete in each nomination category. For instance, you are nominated by sen. X and Congressman Y - you will be ranked on each slate of 10. If you come in #2 on each ranking then you move to the pool of alternates. Your nomination is not given away.</p>
<p>Now for the $24000 question - what happenes to the other 9 or so candidates on the list of 10?
They move into a national pool of alternate candidates from which the academy choose by order of merit to fill out the class.
Some are also offered appointments in other categories if they have other nominations - i.e. presidential, service connected.</p>
<p>The important thing to know is you need a nomination for an appointment</p>
<p>"...more than 5 people from the state got in"</p>
<p>That's because "member of Congress" can be either house or senate. So each state has 2 senators that can nominate + however many house representatives (determined by population) who each get to nominate. Hope that helps!</p>
<p>(Arg, a poorly planned slip of the mouse forces me to retype this...)
Fun story about my nomination. My congressperson slates 10 nominees in order of qualification, the most qualified of whom gets the principal. If the principal declines or takes another academy, the number 2 will step up. Or so it was explained to me. So, I did my interview, and did very well. I was sure I would be at least in the top handful.
I was tail end Charlie. Dead last. Barely got a nomination. I was flabbergasted - I had aced my interview!
Turns out, my LOA meant that I was the furthest from needing the principal, so I got bumped all the way down. Number 10, though, still got his ticket punched for nomination.
But, despite the oddities, that's how my district did it, if that's helpful.</p>
<p>Wait to you get to flight training, those two years cost well over a couple of million. When Bullet went through his training many moons ago, there was an article in the local newspaper calling them the million dollar airmen. That would be why they need you to stay for all of those years, (basic economics)</p>
<p>the most recent figures I have seen from the academies indicate that only 25% of MOC's use the principle method (either with numbered alternates or without). 75% use the competitive method and allows the academy to pick.</p>
<p>I think I read somewhere on the AFA site, not the one that is the pretty blue with pics, but the one that you go into login, that 14% of the cadets were Principal. This would correlate with JAM, because many cadets apply to several acads, and decline an appt. for the other acad. I know that happened to someone I know who got a principal, but a nom to the other, when they were offered an appt from the other acad, they took it, which left the next in line to receive the offer that the principal rejected.</p>
<p>My D's LOA states a figure of $387,000. I have a picture of her holding it so I zoomed in to see it better....Moot, yes, but that makes the fun fact even more staggering! :)</p>
<p>Not every principle nominee gets an appointment. You must be fully qualified. Academically, physically and medically. If you are DQ'd by DoDMERB don't assume that you will get a medical waiver because you are a principle nominee. ditto with passing the CFA - if you don't pass, no appointment.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, has anyone ever heard of a principal not getting the appt. I know in our state, DS's academy paperwork can be seen by the ALO and MOC....Again if you go onto the other academy site, it actually has a login for the ALO and the MOC. Maybe I am assuming that they can see it, but since our ALO has been able to state certain things like how many pull-ups, and what his class rank is, I am believing he can see it.</p>
<p>I just wonder why any MOC will give a principal to someone who is not qualified?</p>
<p>MOC's do not have medical access. They can tell if a candidate is medically qualified, if the medical is in process, or if they are disqualified but since many people are in the DODMRB process they would generally assume med will clear (better to err in that direction than not to give a nom when the med would have cleared). Same for the physical - can't tell what the CFA scores are but can tell if passed/failed/not yet done. Most MOC's have their files completed by the students in the fall so they are making noms with older data. They have to turn in the noms NLT 1/31 but the candidates can update their file with the SA much later than that. Also, most MOC's don't have first semester grades when they are doing the noms since they usually have their interviews by December (a few go into January but the vast majority are done well before Christmas) so they are only using grades through Junior year - same goes with tests. While the nom may have certain cut off dates for test scores, the SA's have later dates. Who is to say the candidate won't study and ace the test later? If a MOC is doing their cut off date October 1st there are 3 or 4 more testing dates a candidate may be able to take to get their scores up for SA admissions that won't count for MOC and the MOC won't hold that against the candidate if they tell the committee that they are retaking the exam. Of course, some of that will also depend on how many candidates the MOC is considering for each SA. If the MOC has 50 kids for each SA they may be less inclined but if they have only 10 per SA who knows. MOC's also do not have to fill a slate. If a MOC has 20 kids per SA but one SA has only 7 kids the MOC since will succeed, then the MOC may decide not to give out 10 noms. Why give a student that will not succeed false hope? </p>
<p>Not many MOC's are giving principal but some do. There are lots of reasons that they may give a principal to a lesser qualified candidate. I have heard of some MOC's who let their committee rank the candidates without giving the committee all the academic data - thus the noms are done based on the interview only. While that would not be the norm, it does occur. The kids that hit the interview out of the park often are not academically the first ranked candidate. Sometimes a MOC will give a principal to a lesser qualified that the committee feels will succeed but needs to be given an edge to get in. The better academic kids the MOC may feel will probably get in off the National Pool but the lesser kid will only get in if given a Principal... There are lots of factors that a MOC may think of to get as many kids accepted for a given year. As someone stated earlier, often the LOA's are put at the bottom of the list. The variables are endless.</p>
<p>Thanks, we are from one of the last that make a decision.(our last was determined the 2nd week of Jan).</p>
<p>When you are in the system you forget that other states have their process done much earlier. For our DS they did have the second semester grades and since it was in Jan., they had SAT's through Dec. (not a factor for us, b/c DS took the last in Oct).</p>
<p>
[quote]
If a MOC has 20 kids per SA but one SA has only 7 kids the MOC since will succeed, then the MOC may decide not to give out 10 noms
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</p>
<p>So true...on another thread it was brought up that the MOC handed in a slate that was not full. Gave one nom to AFA, and the other 3 had only 7 names.</p>
<p>On the other hand I have seen applicants who have stated what their GPA/SAT/ACT scores are and that they have a nom. (obviously the MOC is handing in a full slate of 10, and the WCS may not be competitive) I feel for them because some of these scores are listed as being normally non-competitive for PAR according to the AFA. In other words, the chances are very slim and the applicant is believing that it is all done and they just are waiting to sign the appt. form without paying any attention to the *** on the applicant login page.</p>
<p>Just to help out, b/c I may have made this confusing. This comes from the AFA login page
[quote]
*When you submit your application you become a "Prospect." When USAFA processes your application you become an "Applicant." Should USAFA deem you competitive and/or you receive a nomination, you will become a "Candidate." Note that you may recieve a nomination and still not be deemed competitive by USAFA.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>In our DS's situation we received notification that he was a candidate before the nom, which our ALO explained as him being qualified in all areas.</p>