  Despite its fundamental importance, a reliable estimate of the Galactic nova
rate has remained elusive. Here, the overall Galactic nova rate is estimated by
extrapolating the observed rate for novae reaching $m\leq2$ to include the
entire Galaxy using a two component disk plus bulge model for the distribution
of stars in the Milky Way. The present analysis improves on previous work by
considering important corrections for incompleteness in the observed rate of
bright novae and by employing a Monte Carlo analysis to better estimate the
uncertainty in the derived nova rates. Several models are considered to account
for differences in the assumed properties of bulge and disk nova populations
and in the absolute magnitude distribution. The simplest models, which assume
uniform properties between bulge and disk novae, predict Galactic nova rates of
$\sim$50 to in excess of 100 per year, depending on the assumed incompleteness
at bright magnitudes. Models where the disk novae are assumed to be more
luminous than bulge novae are explored, and predict nova rates up to 30% lower,
in the range of $\sim$35 to $\sim$75 per year. An average of the most plausible
models yields a rate of $50_{-23}^{+31}$ yr$^{-1}$, which is arguably the best
estimate currently available for the nova rate in the Galaxy. Virtually all
models produce rates that represent significant increases over recent
estimates, and bring the Galactic nova rate into better agreement with that
expected based on comparison with the latest results from extragalactic
surveys.
