Questions regarding BGOs

2

2Steaktacos

5-Year Member
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Jul 25, 2011
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78
I have some questions for the BGOs and anyone else with recent operational knowledge:

*Do BGOs know if your application is about to go in front of an admissions board?

*Do BGOs know if your application has gone in front of an admissions board?

*Do BGOs know the results of your application after it has gone in front of an admissions board?

*Do BGOs know if you are being considered an LOA or Appointment?

*Do BGOs know if you are granted an LOA or Appointment?

*what information are BGOs allowed/not allowed to share with applicants?

Thank you for your time.
 
2Steaktacos said:
*Do BGOs know if your application is about to go in front of an admissions board?
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No.

*Do BGOs know if your application has gone in front of an admissions board?
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At some point, yes. However, no necessarily right after it happens. Also, some records are deferred by the Board and the BGO typically wouldn't know this.

*Do BGOs know the results of your application after it has gone in front of an admissions board?
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Same answer as the above. At some point, your record will be updated in our system. Honestly, sometimes it's in Sept. and sometimes in late March (literally).

*Do BGOs know if you are being considered an LOA or Appointment?
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Everyone who is tripled Q'ed with a nom is considered for an appointment. No on the LOA -- we have no idea whatsoever.

*Do BGOs know if you are granted an LOA or Appointment?
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Yes, but you'll know first.

*what information are BGOs allowed/not allowed to share with applicants?
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There is VERY little we know that you don't. In some cases, we may be told a FEW DAYS in advance that a turndown is "pending." However, that decision is subject to review before it's finalized and we are asked not to inform candidates until the official notification has gone out so as not to tell someone he/she has been turned down only to have the decision reversed. In most cases, these are people who get the word in April. And, honestly, if you haven't received good news by April 1, your chances of getting good news are relatively small (a small number do; most do not).
 
@usna1985, thank you VERY much, I also appreciated the format of your answers-it made the answers easy to follow. Thank you
 
2Steak:

I guess I have recent operational knowledge for one candidate. This is NOT intended to dispute our super moderator, who has direct knowledge, but it shows that there are no uniform answers to anything about the application process at any particular point in that process. I hope I'm not getting an anonymous BGO in any trouble, but the answers for one single case (a current 4/C MIDN) are provided below.

2Steaktacos said:
*Do BGOs know if your application is about to go in front of an admissions board?
Our BGO informed my son that his application would have gone before last year's August board, but the math teacher's recommendation had not come through. I believe this was a courtesy call for my son to get after said teacher, but BGO said 'but for' missing rec, his app would have been before a board. Our BGO appeared to have actual knowledge, not speculation.

*Do BGOs know if your application has gone in front of an admissions board?

My son was not informed that his application was in front of an admissions board

*Do BGOs know the results of your application after it has gone in front of an admissions board?

If he did, this information was not shared.

*Do BGOs know if you are being considered an LOA or Appointment?

If he did, this information was not shared.

*Do BGOs know if you are granted an LOA or Appointment?

One of the greatest phone calls of my son's life. Actually our BGO, with whom I was acquainted for three years before my son even thought about applying to a Service Academy let me wife know while my son was at football practice. I don't know how she did it, but she convinced him to come home for a callback that evening while never hinting at the secret she held. My son literally skipped from the back family room into the living room and back. I don't think he was aware that he was even doing it. Later BGO told me he called five minutes after he was informed by USNA as he couldn't wait. The actual LOA came about a week and a half later.

*what information are BGOs allowed/not allowed to share with applicants?

I'm not in the know and don't purport to be in the know, but from our BGO we learned directly that he was 3Q, that he had received an LOA, and he told me in person at a non-Navy related function that he had secured a nomination. He asked me to keep that secret, which I did for about a month until the BFE came right after New Year's Day.

Thank you for your time.
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Be adaptive, be patient, be yourself and good luck. Hope to see you on the Yard someday. (If that's what you want of course.)
 
Every BGO may not work exactly the same way. Also, in some years admissions MAY decide to publish a 3Q letter, while in other years they do not. Your assigned BGO has no control over many of those things. That is part of the reason why the GENERAL information in the BGO stickie above is a great place to start.

There are some VERY specific questions that we may not be able to answer since it depends on how admissions chooses to do things this year. That is just the reality of the process.
 
Our BGO informed my son that his application would have gone before last year's August board, but the math teacher's recommendation had not come through. I believe this was a courtesy call for my son to get after said teacher, but BGO said 'but for' missing rec, his app would have been before a board. Our BGO appeared to have actual knowledge, not speculation.
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Your BGO does know what elements of your package have or have not been submitted -- as do the candidates themselves. The BGO WAS "speculating" that the record would have gone before the Board in "August." What he/she was saying is that your son's record was otherwise complete in August and, had the teacher rec been complete, it could have gone to the Board as early as August. There is one (sometimes zero) Board meeting in August and not all complete records go before the Board at that first meeting. It is not necessarily a FIFO (first in/first out) approach.

Some BGOs are very proactive in terms of calling Admissions about one or more candidates. Thus, in some circumstances, the BGO may get a bit of extra knowledge.

There are over 3500 BGOs. Some have one candidate per year; others have more than 40 candidates. Some work full-time; others have more "free time" on their hands. So, even BGOs who are very active in terms of interviewing and counseling candidates may not be on the phone with Admissions all the time.

And, honestly, Admissions can't have every BGO calling about every candidate or chaos would ensue. (As an aside, I can't say whether the above poster's BGO called Admissions -- but please don't everyone ask your BGO to do so for the reasons stated above. It won't change the outcome and will definitely annoy the Admissions folks.)
 
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