<p>plebehopeful: "First law of holes: If you get in one, stop digging."--Anonymous.</p>
<p>And, to offer a variation to Cadetmom's post on another thread: "To be early is to be on time; to be on time is to be late; to be late is unacceptable." (Anyone attending the Academy will hear this many times over...)</p>
<p>I agree with the above posters. At the end of the day, you prioritize what is most important to you. If you waited until Jan 30th (with a Jan 31 deadline) to complete your CFA, the CFA and USNA obviously weren't too high on the priority chain. </p>
<p>If you had an injury that was present at the time you received your USNA packet and continued such that it prohibited you from completing the CFA until late January, I think you might be able to make a case for the delay. </p>
<p>Otherwise, I doubt you'll get much sympathy. There is a reason that the academies impose a variety of requirements with a variety of deadlines -- an easy way to assess interest, motivation, and attention to detail. These are key ingredients to success at USNA.</p>
<p>Is January 31st also the last day to re-take any CFA exams also?</p>
<p>"If you had an injury that was present at the time you received your USNA packet and continued such that it prohibited you from completing the CFA until late January, I think you might be able to make a case for the delay. "</p>
<p>I think if that was the case, DoDMERB would have major issues and a missing CFT would become less of a worry.</p>
<p>I dont think you should claim the injury just to try getting an extension (USNA1985 i know you were not implying that, im just saying in context) as that would undermine the entire principle of the academy.</p>
<p>I could understand if he had a broken arm or something, an injury bad enough to prevent good results on a CFA but certainly not permanent. DODMERB is waiving allergy shots, non- 20-20 vision, etc. which are much more permanent and limiting than a temporary broken arm.</p>
<p>but apparently not small anxiety issues from over TWO years ago...::grumble grumble::</p>
<p>If this happens to anyone in the future, why not take the test, wait while the paperwork is finalized (about 2 minutes if I remember from my son's test) and then take the sealed, addressed, stamped envelope to the post office yourself rather than leaving it up to someone who obviously does not have the same sense of urgency about it. Had it been taken to the post office the evening of the 30th, it would have still be postmarked by the 31st. I know, it just makes one feel more and more rotten, and I don't mean to pile on, but teachers have lives, and kids and deadlines of their own. </p>
<p>Good luck with the appeal~it could be that they will just open it and include it, looking at the test date and not the postmark. Believe me, coming from Alaska, even if it were taken and mailed on January 25, it wouldn't get there before February!</p>
<p>If it was important to you, I would certainly mail it certified mail, return receipt. Then you have a receipt of the date it was mailed, and a confirmation that it was received.</p>
<p>Sounds to me as if the candidate dropped the ball. I cannot tell you how many students have asked me for recommendations (to civilian schools) with as little as one day's notice. While I did my best, I can assure you the letters were not as polished as they could have been if I had been given more notice.</p>
<p>I am assuming that each candidate did remember to write letters of thanks to all who went out of their way to help the candidate pursue their goal. It does get tiresome when the community assumes it is the teacher's "duty" to write glowing recommendations.</p>
<p>CM</p>
<p>I am sure plebehopeful realizes his mistake and is sorry he ever asked anyone here for advice. How many ways can he be told he was slack, needs to get with the program, deadline was Jan. 31, deadline for a reason, life is hard, your responsibility, deadline, life is harsh, could have gotten someone else, deadlines, attention to detail, tough lesson to learn, deadlines, valuable lesson to learn....I am sure he has had his share of nightmares and doesn't need us to remind him of his errors in this regard. </p>
<p>Personnally, I feel bad for him. We have to remember this is a high school kid who set a date prior to the deadline. Most kids this age don't think of what might go wrong. Obviously he should have taken care of this a little earlier in the process, but I am sure there are many out there who sent info in just prior to the deadline and it worked out. </p>
<p>One of my son's teachers took well over a month to send in his recommendation. Because he had already turned her name in on-line, we weren't sure how to change it electronically. This also has to be done with the person giving the PE test. We had to enter a name ahead of time. Once entering a name, we decided it would be easier to just go with her even if she was slowing up the process. </p>
<p>Good luck Plebehopeful. I hope things work out for you. And, don't forget to write that thank you note to your PE Coach!?!
(just kidding cm)</p>
<p>Two years ago, my son's gym coach delayed the PAE for over a month with many excuses. He got his score into USNA on time, but late in the process. He needed a waiver for a slight vision problem(he has 20/20 vision, however) and by the time the coach sent in the scores, all the waivers had been given away. His BGO did not warn him to send the scores in sooner. The coach told him he had done this before and there was no problem.</p>
<p>Plebehopeful tried to comply with the deadline, but the scores went in a day late. Young applicants need to have the "system" explained to them better.</p>
<p>"Young applicants need to have the "system" explained to them better."</p>
<p>You are exactly right mombo! For most candidates, there will still be a lot to do after the initial admission requirements are taken care of. Time needs to be alloted for this. In our case, my son was given two disqualifications for bizzarre things. Definitely not expected. It was very time consuming to get appointments for second opinions etc.</p>
<p>this is unfortunate, but also the plain truth is that this in the end has no effect on your pe teacher-its all about you, and you should have done it sooner.</p>
<p>"...you should have done it sooner."
Just my point...
I am sure the unfortunate plebehopeful is quite aware of this! More aware than you could probably imagine!</p>
<p>I too am sure Plebehopeful has had more than an earful and maybe wishes he'd never raised the issue here. However, this board presumably exists for future plebe hopefuls, who may have learned a valuable lesson from this person's sad experience. It is sad and I do hope it all works out for him in the end.</p>
<p>As a BGO, I'm constantly encouraging candidates to complete their entire packet as quickly as possible -- for many reasons. Some do, some don't. However, at the end of the day, it is the responsibility of the candidate (not the BGO, not the PE teacher, not the high school, not the parent, etc.) and this thread has simply reinforced that fact.</p>
<p>Too bad the CFA results were not faxed immediately to the Academy. Alert school personnel should have helped the student. Maybe that is why he felt let down by them.</p>
<p>We all learn tough lessons in life and we shouldn't be sanctimonious if someone else gets a bad break.</p>
<p>For future candidates:</p>
<p>My son enlisted his guidance counselor to oversee the loose ends of the process. She asked him for a timeline (deadline) checksheet so she could keep on top of things and ensure that the appropriate individuals were doing their part in a timely manner. No one should be attempting this application process in a void. It is much easier for an adult to remind individuals that they are remiss on turning in paperwork than for a student.</p>
<p>Enlist your counselor as your advocate. It really makes the process smoother.
CM</p>
<p>FYI- The deadline to submit all documents is March 1st not Jan 31. Perhaps Plebehopeful should spend less time on College Confidential and more time on the USNA Admissions website.</p>
<p>then why did the academy liason officer tell him it was 1/31?</p>
<p>I believe if you go back to his original post he is refering to a deadline for "my CFA for a Vice Presidential appointment". I'm not sure what that means exactly, but I interpreted it as related to a request for a VP nomination.</p>