By the way, if you have a problem with the 1st sentence of the post of mine that caused you to choke (I’m guessing you have some sort of condition that makes that happen) I’ll briefly explain to you the process which resulted in me being accepted at the USMA.
First, yes, you have to apply. Being accepted into the academy would mean your application was accepted.
I had a 3.9 GPA and extensive extracurricular activities, I was not surprised I was accepted because I had received an informatoin packet from the academy after inquiring about the admissions process which outlined the qualifications of the average successful applicant.
At that time I believe roughly 1/15 people who applied eventually were accepted, keeping in mind that while West Point has its own applications process you also need a nomination for the academy to have the legal authority to process your application.
My U.S. House of Representatives member at the time was William C. Wampler, his office maintained a separate address for West Point nominations and I had to fill out forms and applications for him.
My U.S. Senators at the time were William L. Scott and Harry F. Byrd, the process was fairly similar with those two. I understand at one time it was beneficial to have a personal connection of some sort with the congressman in question. By the time I was interested to my knowledge all congressional nominations were handled in a fairly routinized manner by the congressman’s office staff.
I was infomed the President and Vice President also get to nominate five people each year. However I did not send anything to the addresses provided for those two officeholders, the Vice Presidency in fact may have been vacant at the time.
My nomination was ultimately given to me by Harry Byrd.