<p>I have a few questions about getting a Letter of Assurance as well as getting notified. As I understand it, candidates can receive a LOA in October and regular notification will be in March. If a candidate does not get a LOA by Oct 31, does that mean he/she has to wait until March to hear a decision? Do letters continue to go out in Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb? Also, what percentage of candidates are notified with a LOA in October vs regular notification in March? In other words, if someone doesn’t get a LOA in October, what are his chances of still getting an appointment?</p>
<p>A few LOAs will continue to go out throughout the winter. I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but don’t worry too much if you don’t have a fat envelope in your hands by March. The vast majority of appointments are given out then. LOAs always make up a very small percentage.</p>
<p>Thanks for your comments.</p>
<p>On a whole it is about 5% of the AFA candidates that get an LOA. The AFA is very stingy when it comes to LOAs compared to USMA and USNA.</p>
<p>Additionally, it is important to understand how appointments work. If you have an LOA and get a nom, you will be given an apptmt., but for the mere mortals, the system works a little differently.</p>
<p>~Principal nom and 3 Q the AFA will give you an appointment.
~Competitive nom, and the AFA will not give an appointment until every candidate on the slate has met the board and received a WCS.
<code>You can submit Oct 1, meet the 1st board, but if somebody else on that MOC slate does not submit their complete packet until January, NOBODY can be charged to the MOC until after they give a WCS to the last candidate.
~Mass mailing is March (mid) and it still is not a done deal because there are candidates who apply to multiple SAs, which means, if they turn down the apptmt, than a vacancy MAY open so the AFA has to come back and give a new offer.
</code>For example, Sen A gives Candidate Smith a nom to the AFA and USNA. He gets appointments to both because Sen B gave the same candidate a nom to the USNA, where he won (highest WCS). He elects to take Sen B and go to USNA. Now, they have to go down the list to the next highest WCS for Sen A, but that candidate won his Cong. They keep going until they hit the candidate with he highest WCS that has yet to be charged and is on Sen A’s slate.</p>
<p>Right now it seems convoluted, but once you get a grasp on the WCS and the difference between principal and competitive, plus charging it will make total sense on why some in the next few weeks will be starting the 2015 appointment thread.</p>
<p>What does WCS stand for? Also, does a candidate ever find out if they have a principal or competitive nomination? What did you mean by “3 Q” for the principal nomination? Sorry, this is all new to me! Thanks for the explanation…this process is very complicated.</p>
<p>WCS= Whole Candidate Score
3Q= Triple qualified = Academically, DoDMERB (Physical) & PFT</p>
<p>Do candidates find out their WCS? (thanks for the clarification)</p>
<p>^^^
I have never heard of anyone finding out what their WCS was/is.</p>
<p>It is the MOC choice to say if they are principal or competitive. Most MOC nom letters will say how they submit noms., i.e. principal, or competitive. Trust me if you are principal it will say it in the letter.</p>
<p>No they don’t find out their WCS, and even if they did it wouldn’t matter because it would be just a bunch of numbers. Let’s say you have 988 out of a possible 1000 points, that doesn’t mean squat regarding your chances, because there could be two candidates with a higher WCS, thus you will not be given the nom. Conversely, there could be a candidate on another states nom slate with 899 points that gets the nom because they had the highest WCS on that slate.</p>
<p>The big deal is that you have the highest WCS for your slates, and every slate is different. Candidates from competitive areas may have higher WCS and never get an appointment because that is how the system works.</p>
<p>You need to just know that you submit the strongest packet you can. There are kids with 4 noms that don’t get appointed and kids with 1 that do. The AFA has actual procedural regs dictated to them by Congress on how a candidate can be charged</p>
<p>If you are new to this proccess, I suggest you go to <a href=“http://www.serviceacademyforums.com%5B/url%5D”>www.serviceacademyforums.com</a> This site exists purely for candidates and parents going through the SA and ROTC process. It has forums and threads on everything you need to know from DodMerb to NAPS to life after commissioning.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the information. I feel I have a good understanding of the process. The forum website is very helpful.</p>
<p>123, there are so many variables in the process - just put forth your absolute best. </p>
<p>You might want to ask your MOC during your interview if s/he ranks, or if a principal is listed and then the other noms are “also under consideration.”</p>