Military Service Academies

Deadline: All application materials must be received by our Burlington office by December 1^st.

One of the application requirements of all of the U.S. service academies (except for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy) is a political nomination, and the most common type of nomination is a Congressional one. 

Each year, Senator Sanders receives dozens of inquiries from young Vermonters who wish to attend a military service academy.  Senator Sanders generally considers applications only from Vermont residents and children of Vermont residents.  To be considered for nomination by Senator Sanders, all of your application materials must be received by our Washington office (332 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510) by December 1^st.  If December 1^st falls on a weekend, materials are due the preceding Friday.

Steps to apply to a U.S. service academy:

1.) You MUST apply directly to each service academy that you are interested in attending.  Each service academy has its own application requirements and deadlines.  Therefore, you should request admissions information from each academy to which you plan to apply by writing to them at the following addresses:

As noted above, the United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) is the only U.S. service academy that does not require a political nomination or appointment to attend it. For information about the USCGA, you may write to:

United States Coast Guard Academy 
Admissions Office
New London, CT 06320

2.) Submit all of the following to Senator Sanders' Burlington office in order to complete your nomination application requirements:

• A completed Service Academy Nomination Application Checklist. Click here for a copy of the checklist.
• An Application for Nomination Form. Use the form provided, not an alternative format. Click here for a copy of the application.
• An essay expressing your interest in receiving a nomination to one or more of the academies, noting which academy or academies.  Additional instructions regarding the essay can be found on the Application for Nomination Form linked to above.   
• A copy of your high school transcript(s) (and college transcripts, if applicable), including your G.P.A., the size of your class, and your ranking within that class.
• An official copy of your SAT or ACT scores, sent directly to our office by the College Board or ACT College Reporting.  They usually take weeks to arrive, so please plan accordingly.  When ordering reports (at the time you take the test, or afterwards) request that a score report be sent to us at SAT Code 3764, or ACT College Code 7189.  
• Three letters of recommendation (which must not be from relatives*):

1. The first letter should be from a teacher, principal, or guidance counselor.
2. The second should be from an employer, coach, or extracurricular faculty advisor.
3. The third letter can be from any person of your choice, except not a relative.

*If you have primarily been home schooled, one of the letters of recommendation may be from a relative.

Please send us the required materials at your earliest convenience, and please submit the majority of your materials at the same time, rather than sending them in piecemeal.  (Though we appreciate early submissions, nomination decisions will not be made until after the December 1^st application deadline.)

It is the applicant’s responsibility to submit all required application materials, and to communicate any problems or questions to Senator Sanders’ Burlington office.  The office will not accept inquiries about the status of service academy nomination applications from parents or other family members, except in true emergency circumstances.   

IMPORTANT NOTE:

In order to attend a service academy, an applicant must be accepted by that academy. A political nomination is only one of the requirements for matriculation at one of our nation's service academies.

Contact Alexsis Regan in the Washington office at (202) 224-5141 if you have any questions or if she can be of assistance in any way during this process.  You may also email her at alexsis_regan (at) sanders.senate.gov.