<p>For those that received an LOA (now or in prior years) could you identify a distinguishing characteristic (or two) from your application that you believe elevated you to the level in which USNA felt you should receive one? </p>
<p>I saw in prior posts (I think from GreatAmerican) that West Point sends many more LOAs and much early than USNA however I have not seen any discussion on what may bring an LOA to your door! </p>
<p>My son is USNA 'all the way' and his application was complete at the end of August but although he compares well to the class of 2010 profile I don't think he has an element that establishes him as a standout other than being a hard worker. Don't get me wrong - he's a great 'fit' for USNA - it's been his dream since 7th grade and he's worked hard to be academically and physically qualified. As an officer in his NJROTC unit he can receive a VP nomination so that certainly helps - but it's not an appointment!</p>
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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.
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<p>I dunno. That may be true, but I wouldn't bet my future on it. After all, we're dealing with politicians.</p>
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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).
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<p>To receive an appointment a candidate must have a nomination. The national pool of candidates is comprised of those who were nominated as alternates or were not selected as the primary nominee. Theoretically, each MOC can have 9 nominees in the pool.</p>
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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?
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<p>LOAs during summer seminar -- I don't think so! The admissions board doesn't even meet until the last week of August.</p>
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To receive an appointment a candidate must have a nomination.
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<p>Sorry, but not exactly true. Happened to one of my candidates. No noms but got an appointment (via Supe). However, it is extremely, extremely rare. </p>
<p>As to noms in general, Congressfolks control those. They can select however they wish. Thus, some might automatically give them to folks with LOAs. However, others don't. Some of it may depend on how many LOAs are in their territory. You can imagine that, in CA, it's probably not possible to give a nom to every person with an LOA in the state or, in some cases, probably even the district. </p>
<p>I agree with whomever said that the reason folks with LOAs tend to get noms is that they're very highly qualified candidates. That said, if I had an LOA I would not count on the fact that I would get an appointment w/o a nom. I would do my very best to get every nom I could.</p>
<p>You do need a nomination even with an LOA. The only exception is that the superintendents at the academies have a VERY limited number of direct appointments they can make should a candidate not be able to garner a nomination through a normal source. When I say "limited" I mean a handfull. Early LOA's are issued (daughter's experience was that West Point starts sending them out in late June, early July, Annapolis in late Sept, early October). I don't know if there is any "one thing" that puts one on an early LOA list. In our daughter's case it was probably a combination of things--high class rank in a large class size (over 800), better than average (but not fantastic) standardized test scores, and multiple varsity letters in multiple sports (in her case 8 letters spread over 3 sports-captain in 2 of them). She wasn't a recruited athlete. Don't freak over not getting an LOA, MOST accepted candidates did not and they did just fine!</p>
<p>Motivated1:
Our D went through the nomination process in California two years ago. Our local rep (Jerry Lewis) and Feinstein both did their interviews via phone around the 6th of December. Within a week both had sent us letters that she had a nom (two to USMA and one to USNA). At that time she had an LOA from West Point dated mid July, and one from USNA dated in early October. Both offices told her that her LOA pretty much assured her of a nomination given that she didn't "blow" her interview. Boxer never contacted our daughter at all but we got the impression that there was some kind of coordination between the two senators so that if one was already going to award a nomination to a candidate the other didn't even bother interviewing that person. I can't say this for sure, but I believe it to be so. Once the nominations had been sent out in mid Dec, both appointments came about a week later (in her case by xmas). The interview (at least in California where you are) is still necessary even with an LOA, but assuming the candidate doesn't "blow it" he/she should be fine with that letter of assurance in hand and all medical stuff is good to go.
GOOD LUCK!!</p>
<p>I'd just like to add a little more to the discussion. I don't believe anybody has said this yet, but Nominations given to candidates with LOAs don't count against the MOC's numbers. Each member of Congress is allowed to have 5 students at each Academy at any given time, so they nominate 10 candidates for each opening they have. 1 person from those 10 gets an appointment and gets counted against the Congressman or Senators numbers. The rest are still nominated, they just have to go into the pool. </p>
<p>Bottom line, you need some kind of an appointment to get in with an LOA, but it does get easier because the Congress critters usually like to have as many people at each Academy as possible. To reiterate what's been said by others, it's still not a sure thing, just closer.</p>
<p>Cougar_62....yes that's what we were told last year....however once I contacted directly my Congressman's office I was told they didn't figure the numbers that way. </p>
<p>The Lady in charge told me
1) not to worry about my child's nomination, she would do just fine. ( this is probably due to the fact that that office had received visits several times over her entire high school career from her, showing drive and interest) and they had seen her application</p>
<p>2) their office was going to do things "their way" -</p>
<p>But I need to emphasize their whole attitude was "we are going to do everything we can for each applicant" ...it wasn't at all a negative, but a open, positive, supportive one.</p>
<p>When all was said and done - even here in San Diego County, still pretty pro-military, they didn't even fill all their available slots for candidates...only 30 young people were interviewed and technically they had 40 slots (counting Merchant Marine Academy)...so it wouldn't have been an issue in our district for the Class of 2010. Each person the Board deemed qualified ended up with a nomination to one of the Service Academies on their personal lists, even if it wasn't their 1st choice.</p>
<p>Thanks Peskemom. Were not too worried about the nomination either. Obviously, nothing is ever a slam dunk until it's over, but Idaho has a pretty small population. Several of our CAP cadets last year got multiple nominations from both Senators and our Congressman. Some of the slots actually don't get filled in some years here either. </p>
<p>I know everyone wants to know how the system works, but I guess the main thing is just for our kids to be the best candidate possible for themselves, and let the chips fall where they may.</p>
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Sorry, but not exactly true. Happened to one of my candidates. No noms but got an appointment (via Supe). However, it is extremely, extremely rare.
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<p>I stand corrected by the BGO. The Supe does have 50 "pocket" appointments available; however, they are only used in extenuating circumstances and I wouldn't count on getting one.</p>
<p>Do the academy continue to send out LOAs throughout the year? How hard is it to get a LOA? Would it be significantly harder for me to get in w/o one? If my GPA is 4.18, SAT V-660 M-700, will have at least three Varisty letters before graduation and at least 3 varisty sports w/o letters, am an E-5 in the sea cadets(went to mini-buds(approved by UDT association and was an assistant boat crew leader(the same job of what an assistant boat crew leader would do at real BUD/S) Constantly going to community services, was in Link crew(people who help out freshmen), and have a open water scuba diving license, what is my chance of getting a LOA?
Thanks</p>
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Do the academy continue to send out LOAs throughout the year? How hard is it to get a LOA? Would it be significantly harder for me to get in w/o one?
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<p>Welcome aboard!</p>
<p>You do not need an LOA to receive an appointment to the Naval Academy. In fact, most candidates do not receive LOAs.</p>
<p>I suggest that you compare yourself to the profile for the Class of 2010 to see how you rack up with the competition.</p>
<p>This has been posted before, but since all threads don't carry easily for a flow of constant information....let me remind all of the #'s...</p>
<p>USNA issues about 1500 appointments for a 1200 class size. They issue about 200 LOA's...Hence realize all of you that the LOA represents only a small fraction of any accepted class. </p>
<p>Hope this settles butterflies in stomachs.
:-)</p>
<p>First timer here..........
If the USNA issues app.1500 appointments for a class of app. 1200. What happens to the app. 300 that have received appointments but do not "get in"? Thank you</p>
<p>Not everybody who gets appointments decides to go there. Some have appointments to go to other academies that are higher on their list. (LFWB) Some decide to go other places (there was a poster last year who had an appointment and went ROTC at Harvard)</p>
<p>I think Plebe Summer would be VERY rough--to weed 'em out! My dd was one of the ones that had to end up deciding WHICH academy. And it was a tough decision, but she made the right decision for her...USNA. But...sometimes I wish she was at the Blue Zoo--only 4 hours away! ;)</p>
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Yes, we are worry-warts and don't want to close other school options if there is a possibility that USNA could not materialize.
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<p>You bring up an important point, and one that we did not realize until too late in the process. </p>
<p>Even with LOA and a nom in hand, steller 4th quarter senior grades, and all the remaining chips in order (Dodmerb, BGO interview, clean record, etc) things can and do go wrong. It is not unusual for kids to sustain an injury prior to I-Day that prevents them from participating in plebe summer. Or fail to pass the physical given to them on I-day itself....just last year one kid was sent home with an undetected blood disorder on I-day, while several others were sent home with color blindness. </p>
<p>Even barring all of that, your plebe may report, make it through I-Day, and through the first several weeks of plebe summer, and decide this is not for them- despite their desire to attend before the fact. Stranger things have been known to happen.</p>
<p>For peace of mind, it might be worth paying the acceptance fee to his second choice school to reserve a spot for the class of 2011, just in case things don't proceed as planned at USNA. </p>
<p>We did not do that (basically, did not know about it being an option at the time) but we did hear of many that did just that- and the parents seemed to sleep a little bit better than we did, at least that is what it felt like.</p>
<p>Just something to consider.....
Best of luck, and congratulations to your son on the LOA!</p>
<p>Good advice Navy 2010. I appreciate hearing your stories from last year and will encourage my son to continue pursuing other non-military options. Thanks.</p>