<p>Our senators and congressman send 10 names to EACH academy per nomination they have available. They let the academies decide who, out of the 10, is most qualified to receive the actual appointment. It sounds like your congressman does the same. If you get a nomination from this congressman, the academy will compare you with the other 9 that got nominated and decide who they will offer the appointment to.</p>
<p>When they say “ten nominations may be made on a strictly competitive basis” I think it means they don’t rank the 10 nominees, they just send the 10 names and let the academy rank them.</p>
<p>Here is a link to a good explanation of the nomination process and the different types of nominations:
<a href=“http://www.west-point.org/academy/malo-wa/educators/noms.html[/url]”>http://www.west-point.org/academy/malo-wa/educators/noms.html</a></p>