<p>For someone in lives in, say, Maine, Summer Seminar is very easy to get into because school is still in session and people up here generally don’t care about academies. If you’re in a very USNA-oriented area like you are, however, you may have a tough time securing a spot from your geographic region.</p>
<p>The same goes for appointments and nominations. In areas where the military isn’t popular, nominations aren’t hard to come by. Thus, the 10 people each MOC nominates from northern New England may not be as good as the 10 from Virginia who had to compete against several hundred applicants. </p>
<p>Therefore, you could have the strongest of the 10 nominations from a Maine senator and be appointed, yet not be strong enough to be nominated if you happened to live in Maryland.</p>
<p>Bottom line is, you have to be qualified for both NASS and USNA wherever you live. However, those in low populated states that have a very anti-military population will have an easier time being appointed.</p>