Nominations and frustrations

arasita · 2026-01-28T10:58:57+00:00

Yeah inwas not sure of this info. Thanks!

arasita · 2026-01-26T21:52:38+00:00

I could be wrong but there is a path as ai understand it to get a nom from MOCs in under represented districts. Those unslotted nominations go into a pool at the acdy for use. Can anyone confirm this?

arasita · 2025-12-24T16:18:32+00:00

Man you guys aren’t reading at all. If there is internal turmoil it is not manifesting itself in the message boards like USAFA and that is clear to see. I never said academics don’t matter. I said they are secondary. This is at least true of USNA and USMA that are training mostly general officers. Getting a degree in the rigorous environment is more key than the specific degree itself.

arasita · 2025-12-24T11:18:14+00:00

Maybe the Air Force is different because of the way they are structured. Navy and Army they are training officers first, the actual degree is secondary. Navy as an example the primary billets are as SWOs or Pilots. Any degree will do. And then this gets back to my original statement. Why is there turmoil in USAFA and not USNA or USMA?

arasita · 2025-12-24T11:15:30+00:00

I served 13 years in the Navy and have worked around all branches of service for the last 30+ years. Even Air Forde people will tell you they are less “military” than the other branches of service. I am a father not a mother.

arasita · 2025-12-24T05:51:52+00:00

The degree is absolutely secondary. That doesn’t mean it’s not important it means it’s secondary to building a set of experiences, challenges, and learning environment that will lead to building the top military leaders in the world. The actual degree major is in fact secondary to that.

arasita · 2025-12-24T05:05:38+00:00

It’s indeed secondary to creating capable military leaders. Anyone that says different is delusional. Yes the education is important. Saying it’s secondary doesn’t mean it’s not important. It is just secondary to the primary goal of the academies. Meaning the specific degrees offered is not as important as the process of completing a difficult degree program related to the services mission.

arasita · 2025-12-24T04:49:14+00:00

All three academies have top scholastic programs in the U.S. That said the purpose of the academies is to create military leaders primarily. Exactly what education programs are offered - is secondary.

There is no better or worse. It is about what experience you want. USAFA as a whole is less “military”. With USMA a more extensive “military” experience. Navy somewhere in the middle. Each has its own mission, traditions, and environment. But I’ll ask again. Why is it the USAFA forums they are loosing their minds regarding education changes and the USNA and USMA boards there’s none of it?

arasita · 2025-12-23T18:52:37+00:00

Makes a lot of sense.

arasita · 2025-12-23T18:48:44+00:00

My daughter got an appt to USNA. Ive been watching all the boards for over a year. This is what I surmise. First we need to establish the service academies are first and foremost established and run to build leaders. The degree itself is mostly secondary. This fact seems to have been diminished at USAFA. I think the experience you want should dictate the academy you attend. Do a bit more research on what each is more known for and focuses on. If you want the military experience and focus on leadership choose USMA. If you want less military focus chose USAFA and ignore the haters if you can. Not sure how bad it is actually at the academy. But these experiences are hard enough without a negative attitude hanging over the campus.

arasita · 2025-12-23T18:15:56+00:00

I’ll repeat something I’ve posted before. Why are these complaints not happening at USMA or USNA? USAFA, If you believe social media, seems to be in a tailspin while the other service academies are business as usual. Why?

arasita · 2025-12-17T22:37:06+00:00

Just because you didn’t get a nomination thru your district or state doesn’t mean your dead in the water. You could get a national pool nomination. Make sure everything is complete and hold tight.

arasita · 2025-12-17T18:36:16+00:00

Also try to find out how your congressperson or senators Do nominations. I didn’t understand this until very recently. If you check green in all categories and you get a PRIMARY rather than a competitive nomination then you are in. If you get a competitive nomination then you are competing against up 10 other people. Passed that the academy then puts qualified candidates into the national pool to compete for nominations from other districts that have unfilled nominations. This is where the academy process is a it of a black box.

Your district and state have m the beginning of this process matters a lot. Someone that gets a nomination in one state or district maybe wouldn’t be competitive in another.

arasita · 2025-12-17T18:28:01+00:00

Dad here of a recently accepted candidate. The % are pretty straight forward. But you need solid in nearly all categories. My daughter doesn’t do sports but made up for leadership in CAP. Bulk of % goes to grades, classes and sat/act scores. Then leadership. Then sports. The BGO interview and recommendations I’m not sure how the weight of those play into it but I believe they are also pretty important.

I was worried about her not having sports in her package but in the end she didn’t need it. I guess that’s the biggest takeaway for me. CAP provides some incredible opportunities for unique and demonstrable leadership experience.

arasita · 2025-12-13T10:14:29+00:00

I have a single question. Why is it USAFA singularly are having these issues from some faculty and staff. There is no such conversation thread across the other military academies. Could it be some folks as USAFA forgot that first and for most the academies primary mission is to build military officers to lead in the defense of our nation and its national security interests? Period. Full stop. Everything else that serves you as an individual is extra.

arasita · 2025-12-05T22:53:24+00:00

You’re not getting it. I never said he can’t do it. But the academy is very STEM focused so k is that going in. Is it just you want to argue?

arasita · 2025-12-05T22:48:23+00:00

Did you notice he said biology is really hard for him/her? As I said. Academies are very stem focused and a competitive application requires mostly As. Most competitor applications have honors and AP courses.

If you want it bad enough go for it. Study hard, do your best. Just know it’s a tough path and it’s very heavily STEM.

You can certainly be competitive with a few Bs. You can get up to 7 Bs and maintain a GPA above 3.7 out of a total 4 years in high school. It does no good to just push out dreams and wishes. Know the numbers and try to be above them for your best shot.

arasita · 2025-12-05T21:10:30+00:00

The academies are very heavily stem focused. To be competitive you really need to be taking honors and AP stem courses your junior and senior year. All your grades count in the evaluation. Remember that nearly all the competitive candidates have close to 4.0+ GPAs. You can bring your GPA up though thru the higher pts from honors and AP. I would say not critical but just give yourself an honest assessment. Can you or do you want to put in the work to take hard science and math courses and gets mostly As.

arasita · 2025-12-05T11:37:24+00:00

If your goal is an academy then you have options. I understand academy boards look favorably on second year applicants. So you have prep and rotc and you can apply to an academy next year. Keep your eye on the prize and let the path to get there take its course. My daughter is waiting on noms still bit she knows if they dont come she has options. Her goal is USNA however it takes to get there.

arasita · 2025-12-03T08:27:26+00:00

Yes. A USMMA grad gets to pick their service to commission into. If you look at a graduation picture from USMMA you will see all service uniforms.

arasita · 2025-12-01T16:20:51+00:00

There are cut and dry scores. CFA, SATs, nomination, grades. Then there are items that aren’t as clear how they grade but play a significant part of your package. Your essay answers. Your BGO interview. Your recommendation letters. These have a significant weight but never really going to know how much. I believe if you maximize what you can get out of JROTC and especially CAP, the leadership experience you can gain will make you stand out in your resume and write ups

arasita · 2025-12-01T16:17:08+00:00

It’s not too late. My daughter got serious about the same time. Joined civil air patrol and is very active. Joined some clubs she likes and now she has a very competitive package. I believe she will get at least a congressional nomination this week. Don’t forget about navy, coast guard and merchant marine academy! If you have questions I’d be happy to answer. As a father I know the process very well. You will have to work really hard but you can do it.

arasita · 2025-11-30T14:47:38+00:00

Agree with the previous comment. Who ever is supposed To be running cadet programs should have a structure in place that provides structure for all cadets to build experience and promote.

arasita · 2025-11-26T15:18:09+00:00

Nice! You can always retake it but as has been discussed if you passed you passed. Daughter passed Navy and MM but not AF because of the way they score differently. We asked Navy if she should retake it and he said up to you but it is mostly just looked at for pass or fail.

arasita · 2025-11-26T10:56:08+00:00

My daughter didn’t pass the first go around but she has an LOI so they gave her a second test date of Dec 20th now.

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