<p>To me, candidates who “wants to serve their country” and have done their homework, will have narrowed their choices down to one or two academies. I can see someone who wants to fly applying to both USAFA and USNA. Also, one who wants to lead troops applying to both USMA and USNA. Beyond that, their reasoning usually starts to break down. Ask your candidate how he wants to serve his country. He has to have a preference. If not, again the question of an outstanding free education has to surface. As an MOC board member I have probably seen in excess of one hundred qualified candidates and as a BGO, slightly more. Less than 20%, which is in line with USNA statistics, have applied to two academies and those are usually the aviation or leading troop reasons. Only a handful have applied to more than two. </p>
<p>Since the primary hurdle is a nomination and all MOC boards are unique, one cannot get in trouble by defending a single choice. Some, the ones I sat on specifically, see multiple applications as indecision. You may say they are only teenagers who have not really looked at college until their junior year, but they are the cream of the crop, mature beyond their years. They should know what they are getting into. The nomination boards expect it.</p>