The Congressional Interview is required for a high school student to apply for nomination to the USNA. Here’s how the Naval Academy website says it:
To receive an offer of appointment to the Naval Academy, an applicant must obtain a nomination from an official source. There are many nomination sources and applicants are encouraged to apply to all available sources. This normally includes a U.S. Representative, two U.S. Senators and the Vice President of the United States.
The nomination application process is similar to applying for a school, and being personally acquainted with the person from whom you are seeking a nomination is not required.
The nomination process and your USNA application are separate processes, however they should be accomplished simultaneously. DO NOT wait until you have received a nomination to begin your formal USNA application. Many nomination notifications do not go out until early to mid January, even though nomination interviews are conducted much earlier. The deadline for your USNA application is January 31st.
Submitting your letters of application for nominations should be one of your first steps in the application process. Many members of Congress evaluate candidates during the summer months and make their decisions in early fall. This varies from staff to staff so if you have specific questions about timelines notify the appropriate congressional and Senate staff person.
Please note: Nominating sources will notify the Naval Academy so there is no need to notify the Naval Academy of which nominations you have received.
Click to go to the USNA Admissions page. Click #4–Apply for Nomination–for more detail.
This is a pivotal moment in your USNA application. You can’t advance if you don’t nail this step. For most of you, that happens in November. Here are four articles to prepare you for this event:
How to Prepare for the Congressional Interview–Part I
How to Prepare for the Congressional Interview–Part II
How to Prepare for the Congressional Interview–Part III
For more information on Congressional Interview, check out ServiceAcademyCoach‘s in-depth analysis and this procedural from Congressman Pat Tiberi’s website.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, author/editor of dozens of books on integrating tech into the classroom, a tech columnist for TeachHUB and Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for ISTE’s Journal for Computing Teachers, and freelance journalist on tech ed topics.
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