<p>I read somewhere that at a time there were more qualified applicants then spots so they had a raffle and picked names to attend AIM. is this true? would they do that.</p>
<p>also, do the essays carry alot of weight on your application?</p>
<p>Yes to the first question. Not sure about the second.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Admission to AIM is selective and competitive, it is not a lottery or a raffle.</p></li>
<li><p>Your essay is very important as it gives you a voice at the admissions table. Use it wisely.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>In fact my son was told by letter last year that he and others were highly qualified for AIM, but because of the high number of well qualified applicants, there was a lottery through which he was eliminated. He did follow by getting accepted for the Academy through Early Action.</p>
<p>I concur with harold. A lotto has been held in the past to admit well-qualified candidates.</p>
<p>My student's letter said nothing about a lottery system.</p>
<p>In the past, EVERY AIM application was scored by two USCGA Admissions officials. It was then given a score of:</p>
<p>1 - Accept
2 - Hold
3 - Do Not Accept</p>
<p>All applicants rated as "accept" received appointments to AIM.</p>
<p>All applicants rated as "hold" were considered qualified and were placed in a lottery to fill the class as needed. </p>
<p>The scoring criteria is very selective and tries to ensure less than 450-500 "Accept" scores (the total number of AIM slots available) therefore you would always have some of the AIM applicants who were rated as "hold" to come via a "random lottery" selection. </p>
<p>However, the misconception that AIM selection is a total random lottery with equal chances for all is incorrect.</p>
<p>Call the USCGA and ask to speak to an admissions officer if you still believe otherwise.</p>
<p>:cool:</p>
<p>The above post is correct to the best of my knowledge & experience. My son applied to & was accepted by all four service academy summer programs & was never subject to a lottery drawing in order to secure a spot.</p>
<p>Luigi nobody said it was strictly a lotto system...your earlier post said there was NO lottery. Get your facts straight...ha ha. ;)</p>
<p>i just submitted my essays and i think they were really good. now i just need my transcripts which isnt so good. (got 2 bad marks last year) and reccomendations. im applying without an SAT score because i dont take it until the 24th. and get scores back till the 12th of feb..is uscga rolling admissions?</p>
<p>The selection process had no lottery element UNTIL the applicant pool included MANY more accepts than could be accommodated. Then there was a lottery to choose the selects who would actually attend. That is what my son's letter said.</p>
<p>was that a one time thing. or is a lottery normal?</p>
<p>Perhaps these two posts from Objee (a USCGA Admissions Officer) can put to rest this speculation about random lotteries for AIM candidates rated as ACCEPT.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Clearly, the applicants rated as ACCEPT were not placed into any lottery. Only the applicants rated as HOLD were placed in the "lottery" to fill the available slots once the number of ACCEPTS had been determined.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Clearly, there were NOT "more Accepts than could be accommodated" - on the contrary, the exact opposite is true, there were intentionally LESS "accepts" than could be accommodated.</p>
<p>Please do not continue to propagate the rumor of some "random lottery" to get into AIM. </p>
<p>It is a competitive, selective process where the highest rated candidates are given slots (rated as ACCEPT), then the next tier (rated as HOLD) are placed in to a lottery to fill the class, as needed.</p>
<p>Luigi we will let you have the last word. ha ha :D</p>