How to package my nomination "package"

I have to send these things to my congressman to compete for a nomination to one of the service academies:

-SAT/ACT scores
-High School Transcript
-3 letters of recommendations
-Recent photo of myself
-Service Academy Application (Which is done online)
-2 Essays
-Resume

Now he wants each LOR to be sealed in its own envelope, including my high school transcript which should also be stamped.

My question is, should I just put everything in one big manila envelope?

Vedic Aryan said:

I have to send these things to my congressman to compete for a nomination to one of the service academies:

-SAT/ACT scores
-High School Transcript
-3 letters of recommendations
-Recent photo of myself
-Service Academy Application (Which is done online)
-2 Essays
-Resume

Now he wants each LOR to be sealed in its own envelope, including my high school transcript which should also be stamped.

My question is, should I just put everything in one big manila envelope?

Click to expand...

yep

You definetly want to send it all together in one manila envelope. Sending it piece mail will increase the chances that something may get separated. You may want to include an additional informal letter, stating included are the items that you have requested, than label them off:

1. SAT
2. Sealed HS transcripts
3. Sealed LORS

etc, etc.

Vedic Aryan said:

I have to send these things to my congressman to compete for a nomination to one of the service academies:

-SAT/ACT scores
-High School Transcript
-3 letters of recommendations
-Recent photo of myself
-Service Academy Application (Which is done online)
-2 Essays
-Resume

Now he wants each LOR to be sealed in its own envelope, including my high school transcript which should also be stamped.

My question is, should I just put everything in one big manila envelope?

Click to expand...

When my son did this 3+ years ago, he put report folders together. They had tabs dividing the sections. For items that were to be sealed, there was a note explaining that item could be found in the back pocket. While a sealed transcript was in the back, an "unofficial" one was in the folder (easier to glance at). The SAT report was sent directly to the MOC office, but a photocopy was included in the folder with a note that the official one was sent by the College Board. While this took some time to assemble, it made all the required materials easily accessible for the MOC board. These apps were as time consuming at the USMA app itself!

We also did something sim. to what Mom advised. Additionally we sent it registered mail, return receipt. This way we were positive that it arrived, plus we had an actual person's name to say they signed for it on this date if there was an issue.

MOC noms are not rolling. In other words if the cut off date is 10/15 you will not getting any benefit from having it there 7/1 or having it there 10/15. I am not saying to wait until the last minute, because G forbid something is missing you are SOL. I am saying that unless you feel 1000%, not 100%, but 1000% confident the packet is the best it is ever going to be, use the summer and tweak it until you are 1000% sure.

OBTW, we also created a duplicate folder for each MOC, SA and ROTC packet submitted. It was kept in a place that any moment we could find it. Trust me, you want to have that. I can tell you DS got phone calls, saying we need X or Y and can't find it, please send another. You need to realize depending where you are from there could be 100's of applicants and it is possible as they are reviewing your packet to lose a single piece of paper. Some competitive states are known to have @500+ candidates for the Sen. It is not rare for an MOC to have 150+. Multiply that out with 10+ pages for each candidate and it is thousands of pieces of paper they are organizing.

You also want to do that in case of interviewing. Our DS made copies of his resume and newest transcript to give out at the interview. Had we not kept his resume that he submitted as a hard copy, we would have been running around like chickens without their craniums. Our computer crashed due to a Trojan Virus and we lost everything. This occurred between when he submitted and the interview. Interviews traditionally occur between Oct and Jan.

Mom and Pima, When you all say "resume", what exactly do you mean? How formal should it be? I'm thinking back to my "fresh out of college" days (EEK!) and the resumes that I remember had objectives, paragraphs, typed on fancy linen paper etc. (I've been out of the workforce for quite some time, so I'm sure things have changed, I just don't know what they changed to). Or are you talking about one that just has headings then bullets below - ex. CLUBS- German Club, Poetry Club. SPORTS - Varsity Football, etc..?

Our DS did his similar to a traditional resume. Name and contact info at the top of the page, objective, and than did subsections of PAR, Awards and ECs all in bullet format with dates. Just like a resume.

Definitely send everything in one envelope. Your cover letter should track, in the same order as the MOC's instructions, the items requested to make it easy for a staffer to doublecheck that your file is complete. A pocket folder is good, I think, but we heard from the staffer that they got a little annoyed with fancy tabs and bindings, because it made it more work to take the package apart to photocopy for the committee members.

[In our district, the MOCs don't look at it themselves; they appoint a committee of veterans and service academy graduates to review requests for them.]

Thank you, Pima!