Candidate Number

Navy15

5-Year Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2010
Messages
28
Anyone know how long it takes to receive a candidate number? I submitted the preliminary about three weeks ago, and no letter yet. Not in a hurry, but wondering if I should place a call just to check. Received a call from my BGO that day saying I'd been assigned as a candidate.
 
No contact

I'm quite surprised and mildly offended we've received no contact from the USNA or the BGO we met at College night since being declined for NASS.

I left a VM for the BGO over 2 weeks ago. The letter said we'd receive more info in May.
 
Please don't be surprised or offended. Most of the BGO's are busy this time of year with the previous class appointees (Senior Awards nites, etc) as well as with thier "real" life.
There isn't much a BGO to do at this point until after you've been deemed a candidate by admissions and the application has been mostly submitted. Then it is generally up to the candidate to contact the BGO, not the other way around. If you didn't get a response to your voice mail, try an email.
 
I don't have his email addy and haven't received a candidate number for either son.
The NASS apps supposedly initiated the USNA application process but, nothing since the NASS denial.
 
Stage4survivor ...had to smile @ your post. Should you find this offensive, you're in for a long, long ride. Best get some rest.:sleep:

Just wait until you discover "hurry-up and wait.":shake:

USNA paper processing does work, but not always on schedule. Relax. Enjoy.:thumb:
 
Stage4survivor ...had to smile @ your post. Should you find this offensive, you're in for a long, long ride. Best get some rest.:sleep:

Just wait until you discover "hurry-up and wait.":shake:

USNA paper processing does work, but not always on schedule. Relax. Enjoy.:thumb:
LOL, yeah, I had 3yrs, 10mos, 16 days of Hurry up & wait back in the days of wooden bedpans and glass syringes!
 
Uh oh!

One son received his candidate number yesterday but, his twin didn't. I hope this is just a mail/admin glitch.
Although, I wonder if their recent ACT scores may have influenced this.
The son who received the # got a 31 on the ACT, the other got a 24.

Guess we wait and see
 
I suggest that your DS with the 24 score should re-take the ACT and/or take the SAT.

As far as being "mildly offended" at not being contacted by USNA and your sons' BGO, please keep in mind that the only time the BGO is expected to have contact is to conduct one interview with each of "their" official candidates. Sometimes a BGO will also follow up with a candidate who has not completed his/her application within a certain time window (they do track the time it takes from initiation to completion of all parts of the final application.) Of course, each candidate has the option to contact the BGO if he/she has questions about USNA or the application process, but contact (other than the interview) initiated by the BGO is unusual.

Also, from the experience of the various Mids from DD's HS, there are USUALLY only a few circumstances when USNA will contact an applicant:
- NASS accept/reject letter
- Letter giving candidate number
- Letter showing whether a candidate is "scholastically qualified" - not all receive this
- a very few (from classes of 2011-2013, only ~100-200 per year) conditional acceptance letters
- Letter showing whether a USNA medical waiver has been approved or not (you don't want to go down this rabbit hole!)
- official results of application process (offer of appointment, offer of NAPS/foundation, offer of waitlist, or the dreaded Thin White Envelope =TWE)
- PTR = permit to report
In the past year or so, there have been reports on this board of some candidates receiving phone calls from a USNA representative. None of the Mids from our HS over the past few years had that happen. As with the BGO, each official candidate can contact the Candidate Guidance Office (CGO) if he/she has questions about the application process.

IOW, you and your sons have a lot of waiting to do between now and next spring. This time around, the gaps between points of communication are MUCH longer and harder to wait through than the brief wait for a NASS decision, but you'll get through it!
 
One son received his candidate number yesterday but, his twin didn't. I hope this is just a mail/admin glitch.
Although, I wonder if their recent ACT scores may have influenced this.
The son who received the # got a 31 on the ACT, the other got a 24.

Guess we wait and see
USNA will be looking at the math and verbal ACT scores, rather than the composite, so if twin who hasn't recvd a candidate number was low in one or both of these areas, then that may be why he hasn't rcvd a number yet. He should def. retake ACT unless SAT's are high. GOOD LUCK!
 
If you have not received a candidate number call USNA and find out why......

My son did not receive a letter with the candidate number so I called and found out that they had the wrong ACT score listed. I had previously called an gave them an updated ACT score and for some reason it was not in the system when I called to find out the candidate number. I was the one who called the updated score in, so I know it was done. The person I talked to apologize and told me he was qualified and sent an email with a candidate number.

Lesson learned.....call and check everything.....due to this error he probably was not even considered for NASS, very sad due to a clerical error....

He was accepted to AIM for the Coast Guard Academy:thumb: So he is thrilled!!

Suzie
 
If you have not received a candidate number call USNA and find out why......

My son did not receive a letter with the candidate number so I called and found out that they had the wrong ACT score listed. I had previously called an gave them an updated ACT score and for some reason it was not in the system when I called to find out the candidate number. I was the one who called the updated score in, so I know it was done. The person I talked to apologize and told me he was qualified and sent an email with a candidate number.

Lesson learned.....call and check everything.....due to this error he probably was not even considered for NASS, very sad due to a clerical error....

He was accepted to AIM for the Coast Guard Academy:thumb: So he is thrilled!!

Suzie
May I ask what his ACT scores were?
 
May I ask what his ACT scores were?

26 in Math and for the "whole person".....
He has a 4.0 this semester including:
AP Eng: A
AP US History: A
Calc: A
Chemistry: A
and has excellent leadership experience.

Not sure what they all look at...
Hope this helps...
 
I agree that it's a good idea to contact USNA about issues such as candidate numbers, but I respectfully suggest that such call(s) be made by the potential candidate. If they are the type of young men and women who will succeed at USXA, they are capable of making such calls. If they are seriously interested in USXA, they will be able to make/find 5-15 minutes to call.
 
I agree that it's a good idea to contact USNA about issues such as candidate numbers, but I respectfully suggest that such call(s) be made by the potential candidate. If they are the type of young men and women who will succeed at USXA, they are capable of making such calls. If they are seriously interested in USXA, they will be able to make/find 5-15 minutes to call.

Sometimes a parent needs to step in....If I was not pretty persistent questioning everything, the error in the ACT score would have never come up...... I'm sure at first they thought I was pretty annoying....until they realized the error!
 
Sometimes a parent needs to step in....
In regards to your local high school.....yes. However I think a prospective Mid should be able to handle any issues with the USNA, and if s/he can't there is always the BGO.
 
Sometimes a parent needs to step in....If I was not pretty persistent questioning everything, the error in the ACT score would have never come up...... I'm sure at first they thought I was pretty annoying....until they realized the error!

Please don't misunderstand me. I agree that it's a good idea for parents to be fully aware of what's happening in the application process, and to "question everything." In this instance, it was obviously a good thing that you thought that the ACT score might be an issue. However, do you really believe that your son was not capable of making the actual contact with USNA, both to report the score, and then to follow up on it? I certainly don't.

Our BGO told us that one of the things he looks for when meeting with candidates is how much of the interest comes from the candidate, versus how much is Mom/Dad. It is my opinion that candidates should make ALL contacts with USNA to make it obvious that the interest is their own. Question your candidate as much as you want in the privacy of your own home, but enable them to push for themselves to get through the process. JMO.
 
Please don't misunderstand me. I agree that it's a good idea for parents to be fully aware of what's happening in the application process, and to "question everything." In this instance, it was obviously a good thing that you thought that the ACT score might be an issue. However, do you really believe that your son was not capable of making the actual contact with USNA, both to report the score, and then to follow up on it? I certainly don't.

Our BGO told us that one of the things he looks for when meeting with candidates is how much of the interest comes from the candidate, versus how much is Mom/Dad. It is my opinion that candidates should make ALL contacts with USNA to make it obvious that the interest is their own. Question your candidate as much as you want in the privacy of your own home, but enable them to push for themselves to get through the process. JMO.

Agree 110%. It's very frustrating watching parents do all of their kids work. When I was new to the service academy idea as a whole, I was completely unaware of parents being pushy to get their kids to go to an SA. That was until I attended a SA day in GA. The first thing that came out of the speaker's mouth was, "make sure this is what you want, and not your parents." I didn't think that was applicable to anyone there until I looked around. Then I saw half the room share the typical face of a "miserable teen." In fact I haven't been to one service academy event (whether it be an SA day or summer seminar) where this point isn't made.

I've seen more of this as I've started the application process and heard about the progress of other people. Whether it be a story of a parent doing the entire application for their kid, or being at summer seminar with several kids who would rather be anywhere but there. I saw a question on these forums awhile back about some parent asking for help to try to convince there kid to go to summer seminar so they would become more interested in the service academies. Their should be no convincing on the parent's side IMO. If anything it should simply be questioning, to ensure that the decision is 100%.

Fortunately getting my application in was pretty uneventful. I had to call admissions twice to get them to re-send the evaluation to my counselor because my counselor "accidently deleted" the email. I found admissions to be extremely helpful. There is no reason at all that a kid would be uncapable of getting a problem fixed with admissions. (Quick tip--The first person I got connected to in admissions was very helpful and insightful with everything and wished me luck with the process. I asked for her direct line and email, so that I could contact her if any future problems arised. When I had to call her again the following week, she remembered everything, making it 10x easier to get done what needed to be done. So if you like the person that you have spoken to in admissions, ask for their direct line, so that when future problems arise you know that they'll be able to help you.)

Don't get me wrong, parent involvement is essential. Nothing was getting done on my school's side as far as getting transcripts and recommendations sent. I went four times, emailed my counselor on numerous occasions, and once I realized nothing worked...I called in the cavalary (aka one angry mom upset with the counseling department). Within the next day, everything was sent. My point...there is a time and place for parent involvement both in the application process and on the encouragement side, but it is also vital to let the kid do 99.99% of the work.

I'm not accusing anyone on here of anything, just relaying what I've seen through my initial interest in the service academies through the begnining of the application process.
 
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