777flier

Greetings! I'm relatively new to this forum and searched for a post with a similar issue...

Please feel free to provide any insight and/or advice, as I would like to be an informed sounding board for my daughter. This summer, she attended the USCGA AIM program. The experience was wonderful and the CGA has been her first choice for college ever since. After an objective review of her qualifications (I understand this can be tough for us as parents but I tried mightily not to inject any bias), I concluded that her chances for admission under early action are good to very good (this is my own scale).

However, because I learned a long time ago that "the best laid schemes o' mice an' men
gang aft agley" (Burns, 1785), the main issue we are having centers around developing contingency plans. My daughter has determined she would very much like to attend a service academy (she first wrote to West Point when she was 11) but she is uncertain about how to narrow down her decision for the nomination request (funds were not available for any service academy campus visits this year). She is also struggling with the ethical implication of even requesting a nomination, which is a very scarce resource in itself, if her heart is set on attending the USCGA.

How can I best guide her in this decision-making process? How can this dilemma be framed to better understand the implications of her decision?

majmattmason

Not a problem. Many apply to more than one SA and many are accepted to more than one. Your congressman will typically ask her to specify in order, which of the academies she would prefer to attend. Depending on your district's competitiveness, she might get a nomination to one or more of the academies. Might even get one to USMA from your Representative and another one to USNA from your Senator. Obviously, she doesn't need one for the Coast Guard.

There is NO ethical question to it, so she shouldn't feel conflicted. Part of being an effective leader is having a good backup plan. Go get the applications to whichever of the academies she is interested in and start the process. She's only going to be able to attend one, so it's not as if she will be taking someone else's place or chance. Best of luck to her!

777flier

majmattmason:

Thank you! We're in southern Orange County, CA. Our congressman's staffer charged with SA nominations advised it is highly competitive, so only one nomination. I liked this in your post: "part of being an effective leader is having a good backup plan." And yes, I guess she does feel conflicted... It helps to read others' opinions on this.

raimius

Each slot at an academy can have 10 nominations. If she doesn't accept an appointment, the one of next 9 gets the chance. It is fairly unlikely that she could "rob" anyone of an appointment, even by getting all available nominations!

jscam87

Some current nomination info can be found here Service Academy Admissions - Welcome but the above comments are on target. There are MANY candidates who seek multiple nominations with no real conflict. She should especially consider USMMA as an alternate (if any Academy can be an Alternate) as you can continue in the Coast Guard after Graduation. It is a credit to her integrity that she is remotely troubled by her consideration of the impact on multiple Nominations. Good Luck!

usmmecom

I'll echo Jscam87's comments,

Your daughter has options at USMMA (Kings Point) - she can take a commission in the Coast Guard upon graduation in any field. I'm sure someone will correct me, but I think USMMA's last graduating class may have had more active duty Coast Guard commissions than Navy commissions for the first time since WWII. The Coast Guard has been spending a lot more time at USMMA in recent years (even building a Coast Guard Station on the USMMA campus).

While this is good for the KP Mids, the thought of all those Coasties at KP makes me cringe...

GO KINGS POINT, Beat Coast Guard!

USMMECOM,
KPStore

777flier

jscam87, thanks for the link to the service academy admission site. It provides some good info!

777flier

usmmecom, funny! One of my friend's sons was appointed to USMMA last year and he is loving it...