New "mom" questions

armydaughter

5-Year Member
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Apr 18, 2012
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I am trying not to be one of those hellicopter moms but I do have a few questions.

I am trying not to be one of those hellicopter moms but I do have a few questions.

My son will be attending SLS this summer. With is SLS acceptance letter, he received contact information for two individuals - an admissions officer at WP and a local contact. He sent both emails introducing himself and later sent them emails with some questions he had about the nomination process. He heard from the officer at WP but did not get a response from the local individual. None of the questions were urgent so I just chalked it up to his being busy with class of 2016 applicants.

The local contact is listed as a local Congressional District Cordinator. Is this the same as a Field Force Officer? We have met serveral FFOs at WP events but my son's assigned Congressional District coordinator was not at these events. The FFOs we met have told us that my son is not in thier assigned areas.

I read the "sticky" that said the FFOs would automatically reach out to the applicants. When in the process would this typically happen?

Thanks.
 
The Congressional District Coordinator (CDC) is over all the Field Force Representatives (FFR) in a particular Congressional district and is responsible for the candidates in that district. The CDC will usually assign a FFR to each candidate. In our district, we are assigned schools and all the candidates in that school are 'our' candidates. Some CDC assign FFRs by other criteria, like area.
Hard to say why the CDC has not responded yet. Could be for many reasons but eventually, someone will reach out to you, either the CDC or your FFR.
It is fairly early in the admissions process for 2017 but if you have not heard from the CDC or your FFR in a few weeks (before SLS), reach out to the CDC again. They won't mind! Every CDC has their own way of doing things so just be patient and know that they know who your DS is and will be making contact with him.

Welcome to SAF! This is a great place to ask and learn. Glad you found us! :thumb:
 
What exactly is a "Helicopter Mom"? just curious, I want to make sure I am not being one of those.

Please clue me in.
 
The following is from Wikipedia:

"Helicopter parent is a colloquial, late 20th and early 21st-century term for a parent who pays extremely close attention to their child's or children's experiences and problems, particularly at educational institutions. The term was originally coined by Foster W. Cline, M.D. and Jim Fay in their 1990 book Parenting with Love and Logic: Teaching Children Responsibility, although Dr. Haim Ginott mentions a teen who complains, "Mother hovers over me like a helicopter..." on page 18 of the bestselling book Between Parent & Teenager published in 1969. Helicopter parents are so named because, like
helicopters, they hover closely overhead, rarely out of reach, whether their children need them or not. In Scandinavia, this phenomenon is known as curling parenthood and describes parents who attempt to sweep all obstacles out of the paths of their children. It is also called "overparenting". Parents try to resolve their child's problems, and try to stop them coming to harm by keeping them out of dangerous situations.

Some college professors and administrators[who?] are now referring to "Lawnmower parents" to describe mothers and fathers who attempt to smooth out and mow down all obstacles, to the extent that they may even attempt to interfere at their children's workplaces, regarding salaries and promotions, after they have graduated from college and are supposedly living on their own. As the children of "helicopter parents" graduate and move into the job market, personnel and human resources departments are becoming acquainted with the phenomenon as well. Some have reported that parents have even begun intruding on salary negotiations."

********************************************************

The original helicopter Mom (before helicopters were invented) may have been Douglas MacArthur's mother, who lived at Craney's Hotel at the edge of campus while her son was at USMA. MacArthur graduated first in his class at West Point, so you may want to make your reservations early.
 
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Thanks very much for the info on "Helicopter Moms". I am surley not one of those kind of parents. My son has to make his own mistakes and learn from them. I am much more of an advisor to him.
 
The Congressional District Coordinator (CDC) is over all the Field Force Representatives (FFR) in a particular Congressional district and is responsible for the candidates in that district. The CDC will usually assign a FFR to each candidate. In our district, we are assigned schools and all the candidates in that school are 'our' candidates. Some CDC assign FFRs by other criteria, like area.
Hard to say why the CDC has not responded yet. Could be for many reasons but eventually, someone will reach out to you, either the CDC or your FFR.
It is fairly early in the admissions process for 2017 but if you have not heard from the CDC or your FFR in a few weeks (before SLS), reach out to the CDC again. They won't mind! Every CDC has their own way of doing things so just be patient and know that they know who your DS is and will be making contact with him.

Welcome to SAF! This is a great place to ask and learn. Glad you found us! :thumb:

Thanks, that's great information. We live in one school district (that is split between two, soon to be three congressmen) but my son goes to school in another city that is in anther congressional district. So we meet a large number of FFRs at different events and they have been more than happy to answer my son's (and my) questions even though he doesn't "belong" to them. :smile:

But that leads me to Question #2. My son received slightly different recommendations from these "adopted" FFRs regarding the timing of his application to our MOC for a nomination. One said to do it as soon as possible while another said to wait until the end of the school year or even right after school starts in the fall. Her reasoning was that, if you wait, you will have more leadership "stuff" such as club officer positons and team captains to include on the application.

Is there an official recommendation or does it depend more on the preferences of the person in charge of the MOC's process?
 
Thanks, that's great information. We live in one school district (that is split between two, soon to be three congressmen) but my son goes to school in another city that is in anther congressional district. So we meet a large number of FFRs at different events and they have been more than happy to answer my son's (and my) questions even though he doesn't "belong" to them. :smile:

But that leads me to Question #2. My son received slightly different recommendations from these "adopted" FFRs regarding the timing of his application to our MOC for a nomination. One said to do it as soon as possible while another said to wait until the end of the school year or even right after school starts in the fall. Her reasoning was that, if you wait, you will have more leadership "stuff" such as club officer positons and team captains to include on the application.

Is there an official recommendation or does it depend more on the preferences of the person in charge of the MOC's process?

There is no 'official' recommendation about this from West Point.
My preference is to wait until school starts.
Noms are not like admissions in that they are not 'rolling'. The MOC will have a deadline for all apps and then they start the process to decide who gets their nom. They have until 31 Jan to give WP their list of 10 candidates that they are nominating. That list is called a slate.
The reason I tell candidates to wait until after the school year to submit their nom app is so that they can submit the most complete application. At the beginning of their senior year, they may know leadership positions, sports teams they made, summer activities (jobs, volunteer work etc).
Some MOCs do not allow you to update your file after you have submitted the nom app. Even the ones that do, you run the risk of that update not being put in the file - gets lost - etc.
In my opinion, there is really no reason to submit a nom app early.

Best thing to do is to check the websites of your Congressman and 2 Senators and see what they say about submitting the application. You may find that all 3 want it done differently.
 
Checking the websites for Senators and Congress persons is also a good idea (once school is out) as it will give your son/daughter a headsup re essays and other things they will need to write or get together for the nomination process. Now is a good time for your son/daughter to check the websites for the Academies and find out exactly which teachers will need to write them reference letters in the fall. In our school, some teachers (AP and advanced teachers in particular) are limited by the principal as to how many reference letters they can write for seniors -- the reasons the principal has adopted this rule aren't important, but if your son must get a letter from his Junior year LA teacher -- it's a good idea for him to talk to that teacher before the school year ends and promise to provide the necessary forms (or website address), his resume, etc. the first week of school in the fall. My daughter, now a C2C at USAFA, spent the summer before senior year getting her resume together, drafting her essays for the nominations and the academies and putting together her reference packets to deliver to her teachers the first week of school. At that time, all three individuals in Colorado (our Congressman and our two Senators) had different requirements/different essays for their packets. Drafting these over the summer gave my daughter a chance to really work on the essays. Fall of Senior year is hard enough with college applications, Academy applications (which are due sooner than regular college applications), reference letters, nomination packets, retaking the SAT or ACT, etc. Use the summer to at least work on drafting some of this stuff and getting a calendar of due dates, etc. for the fall.
 
^^^^ I would add to buff81's comments: Be sure to know the application deadlines for your MOC. The deadline for one of my Senators was sometime in October. Know yours!
 
Definitely correct suggestions re knowing deadlines for MOC. In Colorado those deadlines are (usually) coordinated between the Congressmen and Senators and fall on the same day, but that may not be true in all states-- in Colorado those deadlines have (at least in the past) been in late September, with interviews in October. Definitely something for your son/daughter to get on the calendar as these deadlines are absolutes -- no extensions.
 
Good advice IF you are relying on a Congressional nomination. They do not usually conduct their Nomination Boards until November or December (can vary greatly between congressmen). However, if you have a service-connected nomination then it is important that you complete your file with WP EARLY. There is a "rolling acceptance" process at WP. My son (Presidential nomination) got his final acceptance in September - of course he still had to submit grades and update activities during the year.
 
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