LibraryLady wrote:Congratulations!!
He needs to contact your rep in congress ASAP and ask for information about applying to an academy. Some hold meetings in the spring to tell about the process.
The application speeds along with a congressman/woman's support.
The first contact should be the Academy/academies, who have local Liaison Officers (LOs) who will help guide the process. Have him go to the Academy website and request information. They keep track of who makes contacts and when, and this can make a difference when looking at similar candidates.
Academies are different than other schools: Students don't apply and get accepted by meeting specific criteria or by being approved by an admissions committee. Students are "nominated" by politicians (congressmen, senators, vice-president). There is also a "blue chip" nomination for a certain number of athletes in some sports, but the nomination is largely a political appointment.
Each congressional rep gets one nomination per academy per year, and that's the primary path. I always encouraged my aspirants to volunteer on their congressional reps campaigns. Incumbents win 95% of the time, so that's a pretty sure bet. In '95, Joe Barton had a couple of our kids (twins) accompany him for three days on a campaign bus tour. Those kids went to the Air Force and Naval Academies, and they are both still military pilots today. Most reps have a committee that makes the decision, but it's not unusual for the rep to let the committee know who he/she prefers.
Almost all of my students who applied got nominated (but I also told a few that their chances were slim, and after talking to the LO, they didn't apply). At one point, I believe I had 9 kids in academies at the same time. I had so many kids accepted to the Air Force Academy that I was able to go on the Educator Airlift twice. I was told that I was the first person ever allowed to do that. I had kids go to Air Force, Navy, Army and Merchant Marine Academies (never had one go to the Coast Guard).
