Academy Nominations - General Information

Because of the extremely keen competition for nominations, you are urged to apply to every nominating authority which your eligibility allows (i.e., Congressman Lankford, Senator Coburn, Senator Inhofe, Presidential, Vice Presidential, Children of Deceased or Disabled Veterans, etc.).  Since the academies are able to award more appointments than are provided by Congressional vacancies and other categories, no candidate who is highly qualified needs more than one nomination—whether Principal, Alternate or Competitive—to obtain an appointment.  By the same token, no candidate who fails to meet academy standards will be benefited by having multiple nominations.  In order that more applicants will have an opportunity to be reviewed by the academies, please notify our office immediately if you receive an appointment from another authority.

Each Congressional Office uses a selection process, which is designed to meet its own needs and standards.  The different procedures are often confusing to applicants who apply to more than one office.  Last minute misunderstandings can be avoided by carefully studying and following the instructions of each office.

Certain information is required as outlined below in order for you to be considered as an applicant. It is your responsibility to submit this information and to keep it updated.  The deadline for receipt of information by our OKC district office is September 21, because there must be adequate time to assess each candidate’s qualifications.  Candidates whose files are incomplete after this deadline cannot be given consideration.

A selection board is used to assist in making nominations. The board members will review the files of all qualified candidates and will conduct personal interviews on Saturday, October 20 in the OKC district office.  All qualified applicants will be contacted in to arrange the exact date and time of the interview.  It is imperative that you remain available on this date so that we may coordinate your interview.  Interviews cannot be postponed or rescheduled.

Careful thought should be given to your first choice of an academy.  Second choices can be considered only in the event that there are not a sufficient number of qualified candidates in an academy category to fill a slate of nominees.  This rarely happens.  First choice designations may be changed by the applicant at any time before the interview.
 

Requirements

• Residency - Applicant must be a legal resident of the Fifth Congressional District of Oklahoma and must be a United States citizen.
• Nomination Application Form - This form must be completed online and returned to the OKC office promptly. It is not necessary for you to send all required information at once, and you should not wait to file your Application if transcripts or test scores are not immediately available. If your application is not complete by the deadline, it will be presumed that you are no longer interested in pursuing a nomination; your file will be closed and you will not be considered for a nomination.
• Recommendation Form - You must submit THREE recommendation forms. If more than three recommendations are received, only three will be selected and forwarded to the nomination board.
• Transcript - An official transcript of your high school record and class rank must be submitted. This transcript must show your final grades through your junior year, numerical class ranking and grade point average based on a 4.0 scale. Percentile ranks are not acceptable. If you apply before this information is available, it is your responsibility to send an up-to-date transcript and to keep your records current.
• College Boards - The SAT and ACT are required entrance examinations by the Service Academies for accepted candidates. Applicants are responsible for test registrations and test scores being sent to our office. You may direct your SAT scores to our office by indicating 6181 as the code and Congressman James Lankford as score recipient on the CEEB Form. To obtain ACT scores, use Code 7623 on the test application. If you are unable to include my office in your original choices for test reports, send me a copy of the report you receive in order to save time and the additional report fee. If you submit more than one set of records, the higher scores will be counted.
• Qualifying Medical Examination - The individual academies will recommend the scheduling of medical examinations to the Department of Defense Medical Examination Review Board after receipt of the pre-candidate questionnaire, which is used to open a preadmission file at the academy. There is no cost to the candidate for this examination. Be sure to mail the appropriate postcards as soon as possible to the appropriate academies. You must send the academies a postcard in order to have a file opened on your behalf by the academy.
• Leadership - Leadership potential and physical fitness are judged from the information provided on your Nomination Application Form. This information should be kept current. The Service Academies place strong emphasis on physical training and a high premium on leadership and extracurricular activities. Therefore, consideration must be given to each candidate’s proven ability in these areas.

Nomination Type – Competitive

Typically, there will be one vacancy each at the United States Air Force Academy, United States Naval Academy, and the United States Military Academy. Ten candidates will be selected for nomination to compete for each vacancy at those academies. At the Merchant Marine Academy, ten candidates will be selected for nomination to compete for the state quota of two appointments. Under the competitive method, the candidates selected for nomination will be evaluated by the respective academies, which will make the final appointment. There are no congressional nominations to the United States Coast Guard Academy.

Basis for Selections

Selections are made competitively on the basis of a composite of academic factors (60%), leadership potential, extracurricular activities, physical fitness, and recommendations (40%). The following are included:

• School records, class rank, and grade point average
• Extracurricular activities
• College Board Scores - Normally a competitive candidate will have SAT scores between 600 and 670 on verbal and between 620 and 700 on math, or ACT scores above 26 on English and 27 on math, and will stand in the upper fifth of their class. The higher your scores and class standing, the greater will be your chances for a nomination, assuming qualification in the remaining areas of consideration.
• Motivation - One of the most important considerations is the candidate’s desire to attend an academy. Candidates are asked to write an essay on their reasons for wanting to attend an academy.

All correspondence regarding the service academies should be sent to the following address:

Congressman James Lankford
Attn: Academy Nominations
1015 N. Broadway Ave., Ste 310
Oklahoma City, OK 73102

For more information contact Holly Isch at 405.234.9900 or e-mail holly.isch@mail.house.gov.