<p>Opened my email this moring to read a letter from a dear mom friend, (with a daughter who is a firstie by the way), who excitedly shared that her son -a high school senior- got his LOA from USNA in the mail yesterday! This at least gives us the first confirmed LOA that has been mailed to the Class of 2011!!!</p>
<p>That's great news. Time to break out the champagne!</p>
<p>Save it for Graduation Day 2011. It'll taste better. ;)</p>
<p>Graduation = Champagne + Caviar :)</p>
<p>Surf n' Turf! They always forget the Surf n' Turf! :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Oh, and the cheesecake! :D</p>
<p>I'm new to cc and I'm still getting up to speed...
My son just received an LOA today for 2011, continguent only on the nom but in CA that may be hard to come by!? Here's our question-By having the LOA, does that mean he will automatically get the nom? Does the academy "find a nom" for him if CA does not have one for him? P.S. My son is VERY EXCITED but we are trying not to get too worked up in case the nom doesn't come through.
Any advice or thoughts on noms will be much appreciated ! Thanks</p>
<p>Unless I am sorely mistaken (and I don't think I am), the LOA has zero to do with nominations.</p>
<p>If CA doesn't have a nomination for him, and he can't get one from, say, the President or VP, then he's sunk for this year.</p>
<p>I'm quite sure that folks who have been through this more recently than I will come along and confirm this or set me straight on the LOA. They didn't have those in my day. ;)</p>
<p>First off motivated1, mucho Congratulations to your son and you!</p>
<p>We're from Southern California and while the population of this state is huge - there are more mids from CA than any other state at the Academy as well, so that does tend to even out.</p>
<p>Different Congressman's offices handle LOA kids differently. It will depend on who you have. I know of one Mass. Congressman last year who didn't even interview an LOA candidate...just told them they had an 'automatic' nomination from his office. In our case, my kiddo had to do the whole thing, the interview and some on the review board didn't even consider the LOA in her file for their selection process! It turned out she comported herself well in the interview and had no problem getting a nomination.</p>
<p>In terms of the Academy 'finding a nomination' - that may apply to a recruited athlete - but in general that's not the case. </p>
<p>Your son should begin actively getting his paperwork in to both Senators and his Congressman. I don't mean to rag on our female Senator Boxer - since we never dealt directly with her- but last year I specifically called their office and asked about whether an LOA candidate gets any special consideration for an interview - being that their office gets hundreds of requests from all over the state. I kid you not, the person told me - this are the exact words: "We help the NEEDY, not the GREEDY" and all but told me not to bother with their office - go instead just to the Congressman's office! We still completed the application process, but not only didn't get a phone interview with Boxer, but got no acknowledgement they ever received the file and no response of a 'no' either.But I would encourage you to go ahead nonetheless, maybe they have a new person this year....tell your son to present himself with the best possible interview mindset the day of the Congressman's interview - wearing a suit, looking in the eyes of his interviewers - speaking clearly and sincerely - and trusting that the LOA in his file will be a huge benefit come nomination selections. Send me a private note if you have any more specific questions, esp. since we've just been there last year at this time and are from CA as well. </p>
<p>God bless you and your family in this process and good luck!</p>
<p>Z is correct, at least for our state.</p>
<p>That's why you need to apply to every nominating source that is available to you.</p>
<p>So Z....you are slightly off on this...an LOA can have a whole lot to do with the nomination process and probably more than 90% of the time, a kid with an LOA gets a nomination -since the whole reason they were granted one from USNA shows how strong their application is.</p>
<p>Well, if the preceding posts prove anything it's that the value of LOA's varies from state to state and from representative to representative. In the case of my son, and in our district in northern California, the LOA was a very good thing to have and you were pretty much guaranteed a slot unless you really screwed up your interview. The best answer, and the one that will count, will come from the aids to your congressional and house representatives. If you give them a call you’ll probably find that they are very helpful and knowledgeable on how the process works in their particular office.</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>How early did the people who have received LOAs get their applications in?</p>
<p>is it true that the application doesn't even have to be 100% complete to receive an LOA? and that they can be given out at any time in contingency that you complete rest of app or whatever other conditions?</p>
<p>All,</p>
<p>It is very rare for an LOA candidate not to get any nomination. However, from what an Admissions Officer told me...I can't recall where or when...the only circumstances an LOA candidate will not get in, is if they do not pass the medical and/or physical, or if there is a serious drop in grades and/or there is significant conduct trouble. The same officer told me that if a candidate does not get a nomination but has met the standards (mentioned above), the Academy will ensure a place for them. Assuming every Congressman has 1 slot at the Academy, there are 535 slots, plus a few other nominations (NAPS, Pres/Vice Pres/SECNAV/Supe)...not totalling more than about 900 (including the fact that some MOC's have more than 1 spot). So where does 225 others come from? A nationwide pool that all candidates go into if they are QQQ but don't get a nomination (or I guess LOA, too).</p>
<p>So the Academy will usually find an LOA a spot...very rare an LOA doesn't get in other than one of the reasons mentioned above.</p>
<p>I agree. If you're competitive and the Academy wants you, they will find a nomination source!</p>
<p>As I recall the application was submitted mid July, SAT and ACT scores were sent from College Board/ACT from the June testing date, Transcript, School Counselor rec and english rec were sent end of July and Math rec was sent just after school started. LOA received in October</p>
<p>My son's goal was to have USNA, both Senators and Congressmen's applications in before school started so that he would have all fall to work on the other college applications. Our state also had very early deadlines for the congressional nomination applications (Sept 25th) </p>
<p>The application must be complete. Nomination, Med Qualification, and (last year) B&G Interview were the items which could be missing.</p>
<p>Something to put the LOA and Nom stuff in perspective. For a kid to get an LOA they have to be at the very top of the nationwide pool of candidates --especially this early. Very rare air indeed. They don't give LOA's to screw ups. My advice is be yourself at your interview and what the Admissions committee saw will come through and the Nom won't be a problem. Relax.</p>
<p>It wasn't until Dec in '05 but LFWB's LOAs from USNA and USMMA and his Nomination all came in the mail on the same day.</p>
<p>Thanks for your advice and based on it I called our congressman's office to learn that they will still interview my son but that it shouldn't be a problem! Amazing news. BTW- he has sent in apps to both Boxer (sorry to hear her office is so unresponsive), Feinstein, VP and congressman. (It was a busy summer). This is starting to sink in as maybe real since USNA is his first choice and he did attend ss so he knows a bit about the whole experience. What other "issues" could possibly arise? IE what if vision (he apparently has a waiver already) deteriorates beyond accepatable paramenters so at the medical (do they have one on the first day? son thinks so) they don't pass but of course at that point other school options are closed. Yes, we are worry-warts and don't want to close other school options if there is a possibility that USNA could not materialize. Thanks again</p>
<p>I heard some people got their LOAs during the summer seminar. How much of you application has to be completed to get one, like do you just have to qualified physically,medically, and academically, to get one?</p>
<p>Our experience with Senator Boxers office was quite the opposite. During the application process her staffers called in a timely manner to arrange for a telephone interview, then followed up in a few days to inform my daughter that Senator Boxer had named my daughter her principal nominee. Additionally, Senator Boxer sent my daughter several handwritten notes following her formal nomination. Most recently, two days ago in fact, a staff member from Senator Boxers office was at the Naval Academy reception for California midshipmen and made some arrangements for my mid to meet Senator Boxer personally. </p>
<p>Our B&G officer also bad-mouthed Senator Boxertold my daughter not to even bother applying for a nomination because She is anti-war and doesnt give nominations to service academies. Thank goodness we ignored his advice-- hes been replaced by the way. Verify the information you receive about the nomination/application process.</p>