So federal you can't even get it without a recommendation of:
Your representative in Congress
Your US senators
The Vice President of the United States
Delegates to the House of Representatives from Washington, D.C., the Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands
The Governor of Puerto Rico
The Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico
The Secretary of the Army
So you basically have to be connected to the government in some way to even get in.
You don't need a nomination from all those you listed, just one. A kid in Kentucky isn't going to petition the Governor of Puerto Rico for a nomination, and the reverse would be true for a kid in Puerto Rico.
And you don't really need to be "connected". I went to high school with a kid who went to West Point. At the time, you needed a strong academic background, good mix of extracurricular activities, recommendation letters from notable/important people, and be in good shape. Being an Eagle Scout didn't hurt, either.
I didn't say you needed all, also look at the 1st thing on the list. It says Congressional representative, so your friend probably asked his representative for a recommendation and they gave it to him.
Also speaking of Kentucky, it's probably easier for people in less densely populated places to get it. I'm from Los Angeles, so my representative probably gets a few hundred letters on different issues each day since my district has several million people in it. So if I wanted to go to West Point when I was younger, the chances of my letter getting a reply being some nobody is probably pretty slim.
Is west point a federal institution or just a private one?
It's a federal academy.
Federal. Very federal.
So federal you can't even get it without a recommendation of:
Your representative in Congress Your US senators The Vice President of the United States Delegates to the House of Representatives from Washington, D.C., the Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands The Governor of Puerto Rico The Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico The Secretary of the Army
So you basically have to be connected to the government in some way to even get in.
You don't need a nomination from all those you listed, just one. A kid in Kentucky isn't going to petition the Governor of Puerto Rico for a nomination, and the reverse would be true for a kid in Puerto Rico.
And you don't really need to be "connected". I went to high school with a kid who went to West Point. At the time, you needed a strong academic background, good mix of extracurricular activities, recommendation letters from notable/important people, and be in good shape. Being an Eagle Scout didn't hurt, either.
I didn't say you needed all, also look at the 1st thing on the list. It says Congressional representative, so your friend probably asked his representative for a recommendation and they gave it to him.
Also speaking of Kentucky, it's probably easier for people in less densely populated places to get it. I'm from Los Angeles, so my representative probably gets a few hundred letters on different issues each day since my district has several million people in it. So if I wanted to go to West Point when I was younger, the chances of my letter getting a reply being some nobody is probably pretty slim.