<p>The admissions and nomination process requires candidates to show that they can pay attention to details and follow instructions. If you fail to follow instructions, you have made it easy for the “powers that be” to weed you out of the pack. Successful candidates need to make themselves stand out from the crowd; however, you do not want to stand out in a negative way.</p>
<p>As an example, Senator Allen requires applications for nominations to be submitted in a specific format using his forms. Any applications that do not conform to the required format in every aspect are rejected. There is no partial credit awarded for making a good attempt. This is a binary function – either you get it right or you don’t.</p>
<p>This is similar to selection boards in the Navy. The Board Members are always looking for discriminators when deciding who to select for promotion. The sad fact is that they look for reasons to NOT select an individual. </p>
<p>You don’t want to give anyone a reason to pass you over.</p>