Academy Nominations

APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2013 NOMINATIONS ARE NO LONGER BEING ACCEPTED. FOR INQUIRIES ABOUT THE STATUS OF YOUR 2013 APPLICATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE DISTRICT OFFICE AT  (719) 520-0055.

The Nomination Process
To be considered for an appointment to a service academy, an applicant must meet the eligibility requirements established by law and be nominated from an authorized person including a Member of the United States Senate or the House of Representatives. I may nominate applicants who are legally domiciled within the boundaries of the Fifth Congressional District of Colorado.

Who Is Eligible?
An applicant for a nomination must meet the following eligibility requirements as of July 1 of the year of admission to a service academy. He or she must be at least 17 years old, but not have passed the 23rd birthday, must be a United States citizen, and must be unmarried, not pregnant, and have no legal obligation to support children or other dependents.

Applying To My Office For A Nomination
Students interested in a nomination should contact my District Office starting in the spring of their junior year in high school. Also, please note that it is extremely important that the student begin the application process with the academies themselves. 

Step 1: Request an application packet from Congressman Doug Lamborn’s office; requests can be made by phone, mail, email or in person at the district office. Requests will be accepted from January - September of 2012 for students graduating in 2013.

Step 2: Upon receipt of your request, a packet will be mailed to you with instructions for completion.  Completed applications must have been received by October 1, 2012.

Step 3: Qualified applicants will be contacted and asked to attend an interview in either late October or early November of 2012 with a panel chosen by Congressman Lamborn.

Step 4: Nominations will be announced in January of 2013.

Service Academies
There are five Service Academies: The United States Air Force (USAFA), Naval (USNA), Military (USMA), Merchant Marine (USMMA), and Coast Guard (USCGA) Academies. Nominations are required for all but the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, to which appointments are made on the basis of an annual nationwide competition.

Nomination Categories
As far as the USAFA, USNA, and USMA are concerned, there are various nomination authorities, with each eligible young person being able to apply to both United States Senators from the applicant's state, his or her United States Representative, and the Vice President (if very highly qualified). The other nomination categories are military-affiliated. With respect to the Congressional category, each Representative and each Senator is allowed to have at each of those academies at any one time five persons charged to his or her quota.

Nomination Procedure
There are three methods of nominating, and I use the competitive method. For each vacancy, ten nominations may be made on a strictly competitive basis. The competitive method provides that the nominees compete among themselves for final appointment determined by the admissions authorities. They take into consideration a nominee's academic record, extracurricular and athletic activities, physical aptitude, ACT and/or SAT scores, leadership ability, and medical qualifications. Such facets of an applicant's record are also considered during the nomination selection process. No person will be offered admission if he or she does not meet the physical standards of the Academy unless awarded a medical waiver. As competition for nomination and appointment is very keen, it is wise for all interested persons to apply through all sources for which they are eligible and for all Academies in which they have a real interest. An individual may be nominated by more than one nominating authority and/or to more than one Academy. With regard to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, the locality boundary for nomination by a Representative is the State in which the District lies rather than just the District itself. Each Representative and each Senator may nominate ten candidates each year to compete for admission.


For more information about each of the military academies, please visit their official websites listed below.

USAFA - http://academyadmissions.com/