More kid stuff……Received official Appointment to USNA…..
We had been worried about a medical DQ but submitted paperwork and explanations….And waited and waited. Finally, the Appointment came. For anyone who isn’t aware of the process, it is arduous….
Extensive application
Essays
Recommendations
Extensive medical disclosures
Interview with Blue/Gold officer
Medical exams
Applications for Congressional nominations
More essays
Interviews with Congressional staff
Pass Candidate Fitness Assessment (physical testing)
Responding to medical document requests
You need to be qualified by the Admissions Board, pass the CFA, and clear medical. That, plus a Congressional nomination, allows you to compete for an Appointment.
Obtaining a Congressional nomination in California is especially difficult. We were told by one Senator’s staff that they had received over 700 applications for a nomination to the USNA. Each Senator can only nominate 15 and each can only have 5 at Academy at any one time. So, with a couple of loopholes, of the 700+ applications, only one or two per Senator will get an Appointment. The Senators’ staffs communicate, so no duplication. You can also get nominated by the Representative from your District. This is somewhat easier (fewer applications) but the process and limitations are the same. We obtained a nom from a Senator and our Rep.
3 months after obtaining the first nomination and going back and forth with Department of Defense Medical Examination Review Board, the Appointment finally came through.
Now he just needs to decide what he wants to do. 🤞
27 Replies
4mo
I hope he does not change his mind and tell you he wants to go to West Point.
(In response to this post by CrystalCoveHokie)
4mo
(In response to this post by VaTechie)
4mo
Congratulations on a great kid
(In response to this post by CrystalCoveHokie)
4mo
Had the Senator but still didn't make it in. Was competitive in everything but they chose another guy from my district who was a class President while I was only a Treasurer. That guy had zero team sports on his resume too...what a geek. ;) It worked out for me though.
Best of luck to your uber achieving son!
(In response to this post by CrystalCoveHokie)
4mo
(In response to this post by Vtskier1)
4mo
(In response to this post by CrystalCoveHokie)
4mo
A congressman is acceptable too. Correct?
(In response to this post by CrystalCoveHokie)
4mo
Congressperson from your district. Also there is a potential ability to get a Vice Presidential or Presidential nomination.
(In response to this post by Stork)
N
No Clue
4mo
(In response to this post by CrystalCoveHokie)
4mo
** Edited by Hokebury at 3/6/2026, 1:41:02 PM
(In response to this post by CrystalCoveHokie)
4mo
Also, are the steps you listed roughly in chronological order?
My daughter (soph) wants to attend the USMA. Our school district used to have a yearly "information night" with representative of all the academies that explained the process, but I haven't seen that advertised in a few years. I assume the first step, the application would be done about this time of the Junior year or a little later?
(In response to this post by CrystalCoveHokie)
4mo
She committed to play at Army the summer before she started her senior year and started the application as soon as it was open (I think Aug 1st of her senior year). Her Congressional nomination interviews were in late September (3 consecutive weekends for her) and early October with nominations getting kicked out within 2-3 weeks of the interviews.
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
4mo
for your daughter, strongly suggest: 1) SLE: https://www.westpoint.edu/admissions/summer-program. Summer of JR year. Some do both the WP & NA summer experiences. 2) there is CFA training held in northern VA- at Ft Belvoir. HS from regional US go to that, i highly recommend. 3) In addition to leadership in HS, try hard to get into Girl's State. This is all last part of Jr yr/Jr Summer. Then, you start the process. Regional recruiters also hold sessions- go to those. We met Eastern US head of recruting and many state reps there. Again, we did this JR year. Happy to answer Qs
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
4mo
before she started the application process.
Let us know if he gets up there. I have season tickets for football and we are up there quite a bit in the Fall and Spring for softball.
** Edited by AirborneHokie96 at 3/6/2026, 2:48:30 PM
(In response to this post by HokieDiver)
4mo
My wife and I are the "Vice Presidents" of the parent group for our state and will be the "President" next year"
I am also on a committee to help plan the parent weekend tailgates in the fall which are always fun.
It's a great community and our daughter is having a great year. She has gotten stronger, learned how to handle failure and make decisions under duress, and got her first D1 hit in front of us in FL.
(In response to this post by HokieDiver)
4mo
She's rocking the school stuff. Has recently started to really think about her physical fitness. She's a math Wiz, which is weird because I am very much not and I don't think her mom is either. She's in marching band (as well as the concert and symphonic bands), and a ton of other co-curricular/extra curricular activities, including her high school's corps of cadets. She has never played a varsity sport, which I think is going to problem for her. I keep hinting that I think she should do track or something next year. Cross country would be perfect but it would not work with marching band.
** Edited by JoesterVT at 3/6/2026, 1:55:26 PM
(In response to this post by HokieDiver)
4mo
started women's wrestling. That may be worth checking out. My son started wrestling for the first time his freshman year and loved it
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
4mo
She did do the "Warrior" program at our wrestling club for a year, but that was almost entirely physical fitness stuff and not wrestling. She has done some volunteer stuff, and has been a counselor for our summer STEM camp for elementary kids.
(In response to this post by HokieDiver)
4mo
https://academyendeavors.com/west-point-whole-candidate-s...
** Edited by HokieDiver at 3/6/2026, 2:05:12 PM
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
4mo
volunteer, do tutoring, do clubs, obviously varsity sports is big, take leadership positions in those activities.
(In response to this post by HokieDiver)
4mo
Is that he first applied for Summer Session that took place right after Junior year. I think USMA has it as well. The SS is about a week. We applied late (I believe right about this time but it could have been later) in the process and were denied. It is generally irrelevant to admission and designed to give a preview of Academy life. The Application for SS becomes the start of the formal Application. I’m sure all the deadlines are on the USMA website.
I don’t believe we submitted the final application until August after Junior year but I’m not positive. The order of items in my original post generally reflects my recollection of chronology but there was a lot of overlap.
Words of advice….Get started early (we didn’t). Put lots of effort into all required essays (we could have done better). Take advantage of all opportunities to preview (we missed SS but did Candidate weekend). Make sure that you can pass CFA. My kid had issues with pull-ups. So practice and improve your weaknesses. Finally, math scores on SAT/ACT are very important. At least they were for USNA. So if math is a weakness. Try and get that fixed.
Good luck. If you have any other questions, let me know.
(In response to this post by JoesterVT)
