<p>Babble-on, please explain what you mean by over nominate. Are you saying they are sending more than 10 for their 1 slot? Or are you stating that the source nominated someone who was not qualified just to hand in 10 names? The presidential noms are not limited, but the slots are, there are only 100. </p>
<p>As far as legacies and military children having a leg up. Well legacies get extra points every university. I am not opposed to it at all. The SA’s are not like a typical university, many of the parents know what needs to be accomplished to get an appt, thus higher chance that they have the WCS. Many of them are kids of AD parents, these cadets have spent their entire life living the military aspect and yet, have decided tat they want this for themselves as an adult. These are children who have first hand knowledge of moving every 2-3 yrs, attending 9 different schools and still being the top of their class, living months at a time without a parent who maybe on a yr remote or serving in Iraq. That is alot of strss for an adult, let alone a child. If you were sitting on the SA board, with two kids who have the identical WCS, which child do you select for the appt. the one who is outstanding, but has never lived the life or the one who is outstanding and has lived the life? There are only so many appt. to go around.</p>
<p>Finally, there is going to be a wide range of academic skills for every student, but you should never compare them, since we do not have a national education system. I am positive that No VA is more competitive in academics than the town we live in in NC (avg SAT 1370 vs 1100). Also remember some cadets will get in through prep school and some through AD service, which may imply that their SAT/GPA out of HS was lower.</p>