<p>If you truly have a “principal” nomination the academy cannot select any other candidate from your MOC’s slate. Even the LOA will not trump you (though the LOA is likely to get an appointment as well, but will not be charged to your MOC). Your MOC has 3 options when submitting a slate. Yours is sending a principal and then the other 9 candidates may be in rank order or simply in any order from which AFA can select any. If a slate has a principal candidate then AFA has no options. If you are triple qualified, they cannot select anyone else over you. Similarly, if you are principal on your MOC slate and also get a nom from Senator you will be charged to the MOC not the senator because AFA must appoint you and charge you to the MOC who gave the principal nomination. </p>
<p>The question unanswered is if you are triple qualified. If you are not triple qualified having more nominations will not help. You must be triple qualified in order to obtains an appointment (though being triple qualified with a nom does not guarantee an appointment). Noms are complex but in the case of a principal nom there are no options for AFA - if you meet the standards you are in the door. In most instances it is better to have multiple noms but if you are the principal that is not the case. Another question is to ensure you really are a true principal nomination. The MOC turns in the nomination with a check box that says the type of nomination (principal or competitive …). If your MOC sends a competitive list to AFA but tells you that you are the first on the list or top choice etc. it may not translate to a principal nom so confirming the type of nomination slate your MOC sends is important. When you speak to admissions you can simply ask 1) are you triple qualified? 2) did your MOC send in competitive or principal slate 3) are you listed as a principal nominee? </p>
<p>While it is helpful to have more than one nom and it does give AFA more options, if you have a principal nom AFA cannot move noms around and they MUST (if qualified) appoint you and charge you to the MOC that gave the principal nomination (see post above of ds52262).</p>