<p>Here is a question for the wise. Is it possible that my school's server is blocking emails from USNA admissions. I talked to the counselor today who said the email never showed up even when I submitted her name yesterday. Does it just take a day or two to resend an email or is it that the email could be blocked?</p>
<p>We have consistent issues with the spam filters at our high school. Call USNA admissions and have them send the docs again and let the recipients know that they are on there way so they can "fish" them out. Better yet, give USNA an alternate e-mail. It has bee a real hassle for us--our son's CFA still has not been submitted because his coach cannot get to the document.</p>
<p>Absolutely. Our school has had 3 Mids in 3 years and the counselor and teachers have NEVER been able to receive a single email notice from USNA. It's deemed spam. We always had it sent to their personal email addresses.</p>
<p>There is no delay...when you put in the e-mail address the system will send out the e-mail within a few minutes. Just call USNA Admissions at 410-293-4361 and someone can help you resolve this.</p>
<p>Hey, I am zanerdude09's Mom and wanted to share that we finally had the counselor send the transcript/related information to the academy via snail mail. The school did not want to give out personal email addresses :( So, hopefully that will take care of the problem. Very frustrating!</p>
<p>Yes it is. Especially when there's already megatons of stress in an applicant's "system." Glad you got it resolved. We too finally gave up, and asked counselor and teachers for their personal email. Of course, they were all delighted to help and USNA sent them to the new emails immediately.</p>
<p>I was at son's high school again today and specifically asked registrar if we could utilize a personal email and was told in no uncertain terms that they were not allowed to give out personal emails. So, watching the web to make sure the snail mail gets the transcript there!</p>
<p>I'm not surprised. The truth is however that no school can tell a teacher or administrator who they can and cannot give their personal email to. If they would refuse, I'd suspect they may not be a particularly personal, enthusiastic reference. But you'll do what you must.</p>
<p>Of course the obvious is to ask those telling you this how they will enable the USNA email to get thru. Take it to your school board rep, bring out your hammer. Who's in charge here?. Good luck.</p>
<p>To be clear - the "problem" is with the school's firewall network and not USNA.
As more colleges and universities are relying on online applications then high school's are going to have to figure out a painless way to get beyond - if the school has a tech director then guidance or the teacher's involved should address the situation with him/her.</p>
<p>I have an appointment to speak with the high school principal today. Hopefully this will resolve the issue. The transcript is already enroute as it should be; USNA requires a "hard copy" of that. Which is what the email the school's blocking instructs the registrar to do, mail it in. The sticking point is the Candidate Academic Information, which the school must submit electronically. I hope I can resolve this today!</p>
<p>Vice-principal agreed to take care of this early next week via her personal email. Whew!</p>
<p>Well, I did not get to see principal, visited with vice principal, new to the school......she gave us her personal email address which USNA immediately entered into their system and sent her the email questionnaire for Candidate Academic Information. She assured us she would complete right away and since she was new to school, would call Son out of class if she needed more information about him on a personal level. </p>
<p>So, here we are 10 days later and still no Candidate Academic Information. So, back to the high school I go. She confirms that she got it, even started to fill it in but thought she got almost to the end and just didn't hit the "submit" button. Then she said she forgot about it. Then blamed it all on "girl drama" at the school last week. I am counting to ten silently in the hallway trying to come up with a polite, yet firm response, when she says "girl drama" about four more times. Once more and I fear I would have redefined "girl drama" for her! She ended by assuring it would be done by end of the day.</p>
<p>Guess what? Nothing. I fly out early am for work out of state, so hubby will try again tomorrow morning at the school. Son tried three different staff members over the summer to no avail. Hubby will go to school armed with son's resume and a print out of his Candidate Information System page from the internet showing that we only lack this one thing!</p>
<p>So, yes, obviously this woman is NOT a reference of choice. However, we were instructed that the proper person for this particular information was the school registrar. The math and english teachers gave glowing references in May and June! </p>
<p>What exactly is in the Candidate Academic Information that the registrar (or whoever) is supposed to answer? </p>
<p>Son's BGO interview was via telephone August 20 or 21, still no submission to USNA. We can't worry about that right now. Son thought that when he got everything else done (MOC, Senators, VP all done and mailed away)..........basically the Candidate Academic Information, that he would email BGO and tell him everything else was in place. </p>
<p>ARGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!</p>
<p>one question-
why are you doing this and not your son?</p>
<p>with all due respect-
your son needs to follow up on his recommendations- daily if necessary. </p>
<p>As for BGO interview, the submission of the write up can take a few days. Realizing it has been only 2 weeks, with the end of summer, the start of another academic year, the labor day holiday- all reasons why this might be delayed. Give it another week, and if still "nothing," have your son (not the parent) call the BGO and ask the status of the interview submission.</p>
<p>Can fully appreciate the impulse to want to jump in and fix this- but it will speak volumes to anyone listening if your candidate does this for himself- it is your son that wants this, right?</p>
<p>While it is always advisable for the candidate to negotiate things that are within their control on his/her own, it is not a real expection to deal with every nuance of the process. In addition, the school day is jam pack for high school seniors. Mine does not even have a lunch let alone time to spend attempting to deal with a logistical nightmare that will interfere with his five AP classes, soccer and choir practice and studying. As a college admissions officer I can tell you that there are times when it is appropriate for a parent to step in, and this is one of them. In addition, I have spoken to both our regional and BGO on occasion about issues when my son has not been able to contact them (particularly the regional during school hours that conflict with the business hours of the admission office) and have been reassured that speaking with parents is certainly part and parcel of their responsibility. This is certainly not a reflection of your hopeful's desire or lack thereof. It is an unusual and frustrating reflection of the educational bureaucracy that sometimes exists, and on occasion it takes a parent to negotiate it. The admissions office at USNA is generally very helpful and understanding--this will not reflect negatively on your candidate.</p>
<p>aliceany, don't paint a broad picture of acceptance for parents to do the legwork of their children. It is just not true. Perceptions rule in this situation and the perception is that the parent is running the show which is not good. BGOs and admissions officers are actually briefed to be on the lookout for this. Even in AP classes, I am sure there is down time where an accommodating and understanding teacher will allow the student to do some necessary legwork. The experiences of a typical civilian college admissions officer probably have very little validity in this situation. Let go and let them do it. It is all a part of the process.</p>
<p>Good point. We discussed this very issue at length. Hubby and I firmly believe son should do it all.</p>
<p>My son has done 100 % of the contact with USNA. He contacted math and english teachers at school in May as well as school registrar. Teachers came through. He checked with the registrar, counselor, vice principal in June, July and August. It was clear they were not taking him seriously. So, I went to school to re-explain the need for some kind of email contact with USNA for the purpose of getting the Candidate Academic Information portion of his application complete. Vice principal obviously blew me off as well. Told me she had it "nearly done." Hubby went this am and lo and behold, she got after it today and got it completed. However, when she finally got into the form, she called us and said the counselors were having to do some calculating (apparently one of the questions on that particular form was what percentage of the high school's graduates went on to attend 4 year college.) Clearly she had not even looked through the form when she told me it was nearly finished. Sigh.</p>
<p>Son has done all the BGO contact and all the contacts with various references for Senators, Representative, etc. We just felt like after him trying all summer, it was time for some parental involvement to get this done.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the registrar, counselor and vice principal could not say enough good things about son and how polite he was, etc. Which made me want to ask why the heck they couldn't take care of this for him without his parents
making repeated trips to the school.</p>
<p>Anyway it is done. I have no intention of being a meddling mother. I sit on a national scholarship committee for my profession and think it is critical the kid does the application, essays, asking for references, etc. You are correct, that is part of the process for anything like this.</p>
<p>These forums promulgate a false necessity to get it completed early. Therefore, candidates and parents hit the new school year with the understanding that the application must be completed ASAP. Not necessarily true. Much better to sit back and let the process work as designed. An additional month, at this point, means nothing. Allow both the candidates and the counselors to do their job.</p>