LOA to USNA=highly ranked for USMA?

usna candidate

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I received a letter of assurance from the Naval Academy, but I haven't heard anything from West Point yet. If I were to receive a nomination to West Point, would I most likely be granted an appointment to there as well? Not trying to be cocky, just trying to logically think it out....Since I'm ranked so highly for the Naval Academy, wouldn't I be ranked similarly for West Point?
 
I received a letter of assurance from the Naval Academy, but I haven't heard anything from West Point yet. If I were to receive a nomination to West Point, would I most likely be granted an appointment to there as well? Not trying to be cocky, just trying to logically think it out....Since I'm ranked so highly for the Naval Academy, wouldn't I be ranked similarly for West Point?

The academies are different. Just because one really would like you, doesn't mean another will. Take my friend for example. He had an appointment to USAFA by October. (JROTC Nom) And if I'm not mistaken, he had an LOA before that. However, he was denied an appointment to USNA.
 
Hey usna candidate, what does a West Point cadet and an Annapolis Mid have in common?.....both were accepted to West Point! :yllol: Sorry I couldn't resist, but there is always a tad bit of truth behind these things.
 
Hey usna candidate, what does a West Point cadet and an Annapolis Mid have in common?.....both were accepted to West Point! :yllol: Sorry I couldn't resist, but there is always a tad bit of truth behind these things.

When my son had both appointments (USNA and USMA) sitting on the mantle, the phone rang one day. It was the coach from West Point. He asked him why he hadn't received his acceptance reply yet. I heard him say, "My mom is making me visit Navy before I can mail it in." It went in the mail the day he returned from visiting the yard...so did the "thanks, but no thanks" card to Navy.

Those who choose to serve are all on the same team, but it's great fun to trade barbs with each other.

Yay America! :thumb:
 
Hey usna candidate, what does a West Point cadet and an Annapolis Mid have in common?.....both were accepted to West Point! :yllol: Sorry I couldn't resist, but there is always a tad bit of truth behind these things.

Based on some of the posts I have seen, AFA and WP does seem to hand out more LOA's.


But all the people that recive LOAs are very qualified either way, regardless of which school they received one from
 
"i remember this time last year as if it were yesterday......my son never received a LOA from USNA but had them in hand from the Air Force Academy & West Point along with a NROTC scholarship offer from the University of Notre Dame......but he knew his entire life the Naval Academy was where he wanted to be so he patiently held out......even after receiving nominations from both our Congressman and from Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison he waited untio March to receive his "Offer of Appointment".....his patience paid off and he is a proud member of the USNA Class of 2014.......i can't say the waiting was easy because it wasn't.....but to change anything about the process, NEVER......neither he or i will ever forget July 1, 2010......to ya'll.....your journey has just begun so sit back and enjoy every minute of it...... "

-"Bailey"-
I was referring to this post.
I do notice the large number of replies to the LOA thread but AFA remains somewhat mysterious
 
"i remember this time last year as if it were yesterday......my son never received a LOA from USNA but had them in hand from the Air Force Academy & West Point along with a NROTC scholarship offer from the University of Notre Dame......but he knew his entire life the Naval Academy was where he wanted to be so he patiently held out......even after receiving nominations from both our Congressman and from Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison he waited untio March to receive his "Offer of Appointment".....his patience paid off and he is a proud member of the USNA Class of 2014.......i can't say the waiting was easy because it wasn't.....but to change anything about the process, NEVER......neither he or i will ever forget July 1, 2010......to ya'll.....your journey has just begun so sit back and enjoy every minute of it...... "

-"Bailey"-
I was referring to this post.
I do notice the large number of replies to the LOA thread but AFA remains somewhat mysterious

Okay but you can't really base it off of one person's experience. WP starts sending them out during summer and only uses test scores and end of 6th semester grades. (I think.) USNA looks at a little more, but typically still hands out more than USAFA. USAFA won't even look at your file until everything is complete. Including the CFA. And they send out very few LOA's even then.
 
USNA Candidate - Too late about being cocky. Decide where you want to serve and go for it. Remember, there's no bonus for getting accepted to more than one academy.

USNAjosh - Hmmm, better check your school's ranking. Yes, everyone's heard that one before, but when's the last time you saw Navy ranked above West Point?

All the United States Service Academies are great and provide an excellent education. The real question is where and how do you want to serve.

The best of luck to all... Enjoy, it's an exciting time for those attempting to gain an appointment.
 
USNAjosh - Hmmm, better check your school's ranking. Yes, everyone's heard that one before, but when's the last time you saw Navy ranked above West Point?

Here USNA ranks above both WP and AFA...:shake:

GO NAVY BEAT AIR FORCE!!!:tomcat:
 
The academies are different. Just because one really would like you, doesn't mean another will. Take my friend for example. He had an appointment to USAFA by October. (JROTC Nom) And if I'm not mistaken, he had an LOA before that. However, he was denied an appointment to USNA.

HEH, and just the opposite happened to DS, he had appointment for USNA in hand in October, but denied a USAFA appointment. (and both his parents are USAFA grads! :yllol:) Academies are different!
 
I received a letter of assurance from the Naval Academy, but I haven't heard anything from West Point yet. If I were to receive a nomination to West Point, would I most likely be granted an appointment to there as well? Not trying to be cocky, just trying to logically think it out....Since I'm ranked so highly for the Naval Academy, wouldn't I be ranked similarly for West Point?

If you really want to know the answer then call up your Regional Commander at West Point and ask. I am serious, it's a good question for you and an honest one. The admissions office will give you an honest answer.

No one on this board can answer the question for you - especially based on the information you have given - basically nothing.

The academies are different and will look for different qualities in candidates. For one, athletics is extremely important to USMA - probably more so than USNA and USAFA. USNA and USAFA wants candidates who will major in engineering or hard sciences. USMA also freely gives their blessing to those who want to major in a liberal arts subject - though you must still complete an engineering track.

USMA LOA's - they do NOT give LOA based on test scores. LOA's given in the summer are based on test scores, transcripts and the candidate activity record. The majority of summer LOA receiptents also attended SLS and thus have completed the CFA and an interview.
Because USMA starts early, many of their LOA's "expire" in the fall; as the candidates has a limited period of time to finish their package. When those expire, they may be able to offer more to other candidates.
 
But all the people that recive LOAs are very qualified either way, regardless of which school they received one from

In general, I'd say you're correct unless the LOA is given to a highly sought after athlete. He may or may not be very academically qualified. The LOA may say more about his athletic desirability than his academic (and other) traits.

Then again, a large percentage of the "highly sought after" athletes take a tour through NAPS prior to reporting to the Naval Academy.

I'm not talking about golfers, squash players, and varsity sailing. I'm talking about the high profile (i.e. money) sports - football, in particular.

I'm quite certain I offended somebody with that statement - but it's the truth.

I know, I know ... somebody's son was a highly-recruited squash player who had a 36 on his ACT and graduated #1 in his high school class. He also worked at the soup kitchen every Wednesday night. :smile:
 
So as someone who is also currently going through the admissions process usna candidate, here's my view. I finished my applications at the same time for both West Point and Annapolis, which was very, very, early. I heard from West Point that I had an LOA in July and I got my appointment to the Naval Academy last Friday. The boards meet at different times so depending upon the timing of when your application was reviewed, you'll hear back at different times. So in my case, yes, I thought I was viewed in the same way by both academies because I got the response I wanted, although I do feel that they may be looking for different characteristics in different candidates - but there's no way to truly know.

That being said, go Army :biggrin: :biggrin: hopefully that helped in some way, its just my recent experience.
 
Here USNA ranks above both WP and AFA...:shake:

Those college lists are so subjective. Further, those making the rankings typically have very little knowledge of what the service academies are all about.

Truth be told, all the academies are so similar that there is absolutely ZERO justification for not ranking them very near one another on the list, wherever that may be on the list. There is no justification for a huge gap in the rankings from one to the other.

Superintendent Miller really spoke to some of the alumni and, in his PowerPoint presentation, he showed how those candidates who get accepted into more than one of the three main academies, overwhelmingly select the Naval Academy when given the option. In fact, it wasn't even close.

So, I can see where the Naval Academy would rank higher on a "desirability" scale.

After all, the Naval Academy is quaintly nestled within historic Annapolis whereas the Military Academy is isolated on a cliff overhanging the icy Hudson .. and the Air Force Academy is secluded in the high desert with the tumbleweeds. :smile:

Go to the Air Force Academy ... go to flight school ... and then they lock you in a closet at Nellis AFB to monitor an unmanned Predator which is being controlled via satellite. Whoo-hoo!
 
Something to also consider; which is in common with all 3 academies that require nominations; is that your particular district/state might have a lot of open slots available for one academy, but totally full up on another academy. I've seen where a representative or senator wasn't going to have any nominations going to a particular academy because they already had 5 individuals charged to their slots and weren't allowed any more.

Not saying this is the reason why an individual received an LOA/Appointment from one academy and not another; just that this is also a possible reason. Along with many other reasons I can think of.
 
I received an LOA from West Point yesterday, so it seems that, generally, the academies look at the same candidates similarly.
 
Because USMA starts early, many of their LOA's "expire" in the fall; as the candidates has a limited period of time to finish their package. When those expire, they may be able to offer more to other candidates.

October 15th was one such deadline on DS's USMA LOA to have file items complete.

A friend's LOA this week has Nov 15 as deadline to finish items in their file.
 
I received an LOA from West Point yesterday, so it seems that, generally, the academies look at the same candidates similarly.

I'm sure that's true. Especially when it comes to academic excellence, it is the most quantifiable and least subjective of all the attributes a candidate has. Certainly all the academies can recognize a smart kid when they see one - even if it's on paper.

The same is true about a recruited athlete. Athletic excellence is also easily identifiable.

It's the more intangible things like leadership, character, motivation, dedication - that are much more difficult to identify.

Statistics indicate that a vast majority of those who get appointed to the Naval Academy and one of the other service academies, end up choosing the Naval Academy.

Let's face it, the Navy's uniforms are cooler. That should be reason enough. :smile:
 
Let's face it, the Navy's uniforms are cooler. That should be reason enough. :smile:

Valid point! But then again, a comment from a friend of my son's who also attended SLS is telling: "It's like living at Hogwarts. With the different "houses" (Gryffindor, etc) as the companies." :smile:

My input was that they needed to think about more careers and less about castles. :thumb:

DS has CVW this weekend at USNA, so that should round out exposure started at NASS. With overnight visit at USMA completed just a couple of weeks ago he should be able to make some good comparisons.
 
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