<p>My daughter just received an LOA in today's mail; it was dated 24 July 2007. :) The admissions office is giving her until 15 October 2007 to complete the admissions file otherwise the LOA will be withdrawn.</p>
<p>Items that are required to complete the file:
[ul][<em>]CAndidate Fitness Assessment (CFA)
[</em>]Candidate Personal Data Record
[<em>]Request for Secondary School Transcript
[</em>]School Official's Evaluations
[<em>]Candidate Activities Record, and
[</em>]Candidate Statement[/ul]
The LOA also requires the candidates to meet medical qualification and continued excellent work in school.</p>
<p>She absolutely does still have to get a nomination. An LOA is expressly conditioned upon getting a nomination. The Admissions Office may help someone get a nomination and most Members of Congress will make sure that kids with LOAs get nominated. But, it is still a hoop that must be jumped through.</p>
<p>CONGRATULATIONS! Isn't is a great feeling to be going into her senior year with an LOA in hand!? Both my sons received LOA's and it was wonderful to have that affirmation that all their efforts had been productive! Now just keep her focused on the prize -- it is not the time to relax and coast...</p>
<p>There won't be any slacking off this year. My daughter has one year left to complete the IB curriculum to earn her IB Diploma. Eight classes (7 are IB), an extended essay (thesis), and approximately 38 hours of service (out of 150) left to complete, IB exams in the spring, plus varsity sports should keep her out of trouble.</p>
<p>What was I thinking? Of course she has a Presidential!
Well then, as soon as she completes her 2nd step, passes her CFA and gets medically cleared she should have her appointment - perhaps as early as October or November. She could have that appointment before she interviews for her MOC's for a Nomination. This could be a moot point - unless of course she is applying to other academies. With an LOA - West Point doesn't care where they get the nomination as long as they get one.</p>
<p>WP will start offering LOA's this summer to highly qualified candidates based on their pre-candidate questionairre's and transcripts. They tend to target those who would also be applying to Ivy League and other highly selective schools. It is a way to target kids who are being wooed by other top schools.
With an LOA, like an appointment there is no requirement to withdraw other applications. </p>
<p>GA - what other schools is your daughter looking at? Other academies? Civilian schools? Does she have a top choice yet? Congratulations to her!</p>
<p>I found this website the other day looking for good sources of information on West Point. Last night, I found out that I am a recipient of an LOA for the class of 2012. I am pretty excited! I joined hoping to meet some more people who are potential members of the class of 2012, but more importantly, to find out more stuff about USMA. I have never actually been to the campus, and I don't really know that much about how life is there as a cadet. I look forward to getting to know many of you better, and also more information about the school, through this discussion forum!</p>
<p>Other schools/academies:[ul][<em>]U.S. Air Force Academy
[</em>]U.S. Naval Academy
[<em>]Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
[</em>]University of Virginia
[<em>]George Washington University
[</em>]George Mason University
[<em>]Clearwater Christian College
[</em>]Pensacola Christian College[/ul]
Other Programs:
[ul][<em>]Army ROTC
[</em>]Navy ROTC[/ul]
Top Choice: USNA</p>
<p>Daughter's Ultimate Goal: Graduate from USNA, attend USUHS (Uniformed Services University for the Health Sciences), graduate from USUHS with an MD, serve in the Medical Corps. For those of you who don't know, USUHS is the "West Point" of military medicine.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your daughter! Here's hoping she changes her top choice to USMA.</p>
<p>Moshjath,</p>
<p>Welcome aboard and congratulations to you on receiving one of the first LOA's. Get through all of the steps (hoops?) of the admissions process, receive your appointment and then schedule an overnight visit during the academic year. You'll receive an unedited introduction to life as a cadet at West Point. Good luck!</p>
<p>GA - Congratulations to your daughter. I hope she comes to her senses and picks USMA! ;)</p>
<p>Moshjath - Congratulations to you too. I have some suggestions on sources for learning about life at USMA:
1) Make a visit if you can. There is nothing like seeing and hearing about it firsthand.
2) The USMA website has lots of information.
3) Read "Absolutely American" by David Lipsky.
4) Watch "Surviving West Point" the DVD set by National Geographic
5) Another website: <a href="http://serviceacademyforums.com/%5B/url%5D">http://serviceacademyforums.com/</a>
I hope this helps you.</p>
<p>To WAMom68's advice I would add to purchase the PBS DVD entitled "West Point - the First 200 years". It's got terrificly historical information and it's missing the whiney cadet's I found so annoying in the National Geographic DVD (though it's also very worth while and a must see for any prospective cadet).</p>
<p>Anyway, the PBS DVD will be the best $18 you've ever spent; here's the link:</p>
<p>Congratulations GreatAmerican and Moshjath; those LOA's are like winning the lottery; finding a goldmine in your back yard; having a rich relative you didn't know you have send you a check for a million dollars. Yep, all that hard work DOES pay off.</p>
<p>As for the IB program, I would imagine (aka, completely guessing) that it's got to be a tremendous advantage because it shares much in common with the academic approach at the service academies (too much work, choose wisely, work YAO, work some more). Perhaps a BGO can comment (Bill? or others) on the value of an IB background for those who will be making the choice between the IB program or AP courses in high school.</p>
<p>By the way, and completely off topic, but what does "BGO" stand for anyway?</p>