The Army has provided guidance to commanders who want to nominate outstanding junior enlisted soldiers for possible admission to the U.S. Military Academy as cadets, and subsequent commissioning as Army officers.

Eligibility requirements for the Secretary of the Army West Point Nomination Process apply to active and reserve soldiers who commanders believe have demonstrated the ideals and values of the Corps of Cadets – duty, honor and country.

The academy admissions office establishes criteria for all nominees, but academic potential for this penultimate military scholarship is based on competitive Scholastic Aptitude Test or American College Test scores, and high school and/or college transcripts with an emphasis on mathematics.

Soldiers without test scores can test at no cost at Army education centers and receive free test preparation information at www.match2success.com.

An assessment of leadership potential is based on high school performance and/or military service record, while a physical fitness evaluation is based on a nominee's performance on the academy candidate fitness assessment.

Basic eligibility criteria requires that nominees be at least 17, but not older than 23, years of age by the proposed year of admission. Waivers are available that extend the age limit to 25 years for soldiers who could not attend the academy by age 23 because they were deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq.

Additionally, nominees must:

• Have a high school diploma or GED.

• Have completed basic training and are eligible to attend advanced individual training.

• Be eligible to re-enlist.

• Be in compliance with Army medical standards as defined in Army Regulation 40-501 (Standards of Medical Fitness), and the various grooming and appearance standards defined in AR 670-1 (Wear and Appearance of Army Uniforms and Insignia).

Under the SA nomination process announced by the Army Nov. 19, all general officer commands of the active and reserve components are encouraged to submit at least one nomination packet.

Commands should make sure their candidates have completed the online West Point application at http://www.usma.edu/applynow.

Application packets must include several documents, including a commander endorsement letter, an updated Enlisted Record Brief, high school transcript or GED equivalent, SAT or ACT test scores and results of the physical fitness assessment.

Application packets for soldiers who are the principal nominees of a general officer command must include a memorandum of endorsement from the general officer commander. The memo should indicate that the nominee is in compliance with Army weight and physical fitness standards.

The application deadline is Feb. 28.

Nominees who are approved for admission will be offered a cadet slot at either the academy or the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School based on availability in the class.

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