Acceptance question

justamom

10-Year Member
5-Year Member
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This is the first time I have posted and I do not have all the lingo down so please excuse my civilian wording. My son has received an LOA, a call from his senator's office informing him of his appointment to the Naval Academy, and a call from his BGO. He has not yet received the much anticipated Blue Folder. He has also applied at USCGA and we have yet to hear anything. His first choice is USNA and it appears that he got his wish.:biggrin:

Here's my question: he has been getting pressure from an applicant in our town to the USCGA, and his parents, for him to withdraw his application to the USCGA.
Is this standard procedure-to withdraw your applications to other SA's once you have received an appointment to the SA of your choice? I am not sure how to advise him.
 
If he gets an appointment to USCGA then he just turns it down. That family is playing gamemenship and it assumes that your son has the principal from his nominator which this family is trying to get and wouldn't have to go the WCS route to get an appointment. I'd say get both appointments and let you son decide his best option then turn down the other.
 
We did not encourage (ok "let" is the right word!) our son withdraw any applications prior to the May 1st reply date. They are 18 years old - let them take their time with making this decision. Even if they have wanted "xyz" since the 5th grade they owe it to themselves to enter into this agreement with having given it their full consideration. If the Academies also did not feel this way they would not give them until May 1st - they would be wanting a reply soon after awarding the appointment.

This is one of the few times that the only one that matters is the individual who is contemplating their appointment in hand. They have earned the right to make this decision with all of their cards on the table.
 
There is no need to withdraw his name from consideration at the USCGA.

I agree with the others that say "take until May 1st to decide" but ONLY if he is truly undecided. IF that is the case, he should take all the time he needs, he earned both of them, it's HIS timeframe and HIS future that he should care about.

If (as in your son's case) the candidate has already decided, if he has received his "first wish" as you put it (USNA) and he is going to accept USNA, then the ethical thing to do is to accept the USNA and decline the USCGA as soon as possible.

But also consider that he may NOT get the USCGA appointment - not all who get USNA appointments are "shoo-ins" to get USCGA appointments. Don't think it's a slam dunk that just because USNA accepted him that USCGA would as well. :wink:
 
I am not sure why they would be pressuring your son because I was under the conclusion that the USCGA did not need a nomination (well my twin brother did not need one to receive his appointment there).
 
I think the family is asking (putting pressure) on him and us for him to withdraw his application so that the USCGA admissions committee doesn't consider my son over their son. As I said in my post "We have not heard anything from USCGA" so we are not assuming that he will get in, just that he is in contention. We were just wondering if he should withdraw his application at USCGA so that they can consider others.
 
oops- I should have added "so that they may consider others" from the same school/town- if that is even a factor in the process.
Thanks
 
If he gets an appointment to USCGA then he just turns it down. That family is playing gamemenship and it assumes that your son has the principal from his nominator which this family is trying to get and wouldn't have to go the WCS route to get an appointment. I'd say get both appointments and let you son decide his best option then turn down the other.


I may be reading this wrong. That family would not need a nomination for CGA.
 
Withdraw application

once my son got into USMMA he decided to withdraw his application to uSCGA since it was his 3rd choice. I wanted him to wait and see if he was in but his mind was made up. He is still waiting to hear about USNA. That being said he has not withdrawn from his civilian school yet. He plans on doing that this week, I think all the acceptances made him feel good. I know they certainly made me feel good.
 
Keep that back up plan!

MindyG: I would not withdraw from that civilian college until he is safely tucked in at the SA of his choice! Here's why: What if he, heaven forbid, breaks his ankle in June, then it would be no I Day (or whatever day one is called at the academy of his choice) this year! A variety of things can and do go wrong before we get our sons and daughters safely ensconced at the SA. Some, albeit very few, are turned away on day one for some unforeseen medical reason. Even heard of a plebe-to-be falling getting off the shuttle bus and breaking something and having to go home! Also, experienced parents will tell of a few who get to Annapolis, using USNA as an example, go through the rigors of I-Day and by the end of that day decide that USNA is NOT for them!

If you have not created a back up plan, he will be at community college for a year! My son has applications for various scholarships and will go so far as to accept them if offered. He is accepted a State U, has a dorm deposit, signed up for freshman orientation. Then we will contact our back up school the day after I-Day at USNA and let them know we are respectfully declining and also contact any scholarship sources as well. He has applied for scholarships from two sources and is virtually assured of receiving nice awards. Both of these are fully aware that he hopes to turn them back in July. Both agreed that we should proceed full steam ahead with these as a back up to USNA. If something unforeseen happened, we would potentially be leaving $25,000 on the table, unable to apply for it again!

I learned this on this forum as we have traveled through the application process. I thought that if we found out about USNA early, we could forgo all that other paper work. Not so said the voices of experience and wisdom. I also read about parents who kept the back up plan in place until PPW, just in case junior washed out of plebe summer. And others who felt this might encourage junior to bail out when the going got tough. We plan to make those calls on the way home from I-Day.

Your situation may be different, but it is something to consider.
 
Wow. Now I wish we had a back-up plan. He put all his eggs in one basket. Here's praying for smooth sailing until I Day. No pun intended.
 
Back up plan

I am under the impression that all schools need to be notified Yes or No by May 1. Then if something icky happens before I-day one has to call admissions of other schools and explain. Am I correct in this?
 
I am under the impression that all schools need to be notified Yes or No by May 1. Then if something icky happens before I-day one has to call admissions of other schools and explain. Am I correct in this?

May 1st is National Accaptance day to all colleges...
 
Cant take it!!

The suspense is killing me! Ive been running home to the mailbox everyday since i got my nom. Jeeeezeee
 
You can accept at your back up plan college and then decline after I-Day. You may lose a deposit on a dorm room or a freshman orientation. In our case, we can get dorm deposit back and freshman orientation funds as well.
 
In a civilian career...if you have one job offer in your hand it is the best offer in the world...if you receive a second job offer...you then have a choice.

In the world of college and service academy admissions it is very similar. If your son has one offer to attend a service academy or university, it is the best in the world. If he later receives any follow-on offers, he can take some time and choose. I have read a lot of comments on this forum about "my son/daughter is guaranteed an appointment" but my advice is until that puffy folder comes from USNA, the USCGA is his only choice. Plan for the worst, hope for the best?

Wait and decide when all the offers come in for your son. There is a deadline for a reason and that is why the academies call it a deadline. To give you some idea of timeline on the CGO side, all USNA candidates (Class of 2013) will notified of their status either way by April 15th.

BTW, Groton is not such a bad place either.
 
Every academy candidate needs to decide the right place for them. There are many choices. The seafaring branches USNA, USCGA and USMMA each have different mission statements and career choices. My daughter went to AIM at CGA followed immediately by a week at USNA. USMMA after receiving her SAT's sent her a full admision and nomination package. She decided that USCGA was the right place for her. She liked the smallness of the campus. The feeling of family felt as a member of the corp. She loved the coach of her particular sport, she preferred the humainitarian mission statement, she felt that she had unlimitted career choices as a women, and she felt that the Coast Guard was expanding and getting new assets where as the other academy's may be down sizing given the state of the economy. She also preferred the level of responsibility given to a ensign graduating from the CGA versus the NA. She also more than anything else. Liked the food. She only applied to one service academy. She decided where she wanted to be. We were fortunate that she got her wish.

There is plenty of information out there so that your son/daughter can make an informed decision and find the right fit for them and the service that they want to give their hearts and souls too. This is not just a college option and a free education this is serious career choice. After all isn't that the reason that they applied. To serve country.
 
she felt that she had unlimitted career choices as a women, and she felt that the Coast Guard was expanding and getting new assets where as the other academy's may be down sizing given the state of the economy. She also preferred the level of responsibility given to a ensign graduating from the CGA versus the NA. .

Thank you for sharing these observations. I'm curious though about some things. May I ask what was it that gave her the impression that the other SA may be down sizing? Also how did she perceive the level of responsiblity as being different?
 
Thank you for sharing these observations. I'm curious though about some things. May I ask what was it that gave her the impression that the other SA may be down sizing?

Perhaps not the academies themselves, but the military branches, as noted by President Obama and his proposed cuts to military budgets, while the Homeland Security budget will increase.

Also how did she perceive the level of responsiblity as being different?

Unlike any other academy graduates, most newly-minted USCGA ensigns immediately go the fleet to a position of leadership, not back to school.
 
sailcmh10110 said:
She also preferred the level of responsibility given to a ensign graduating from the CGA versus the NA.

Unlike any other academy graduates, most newly-minted USCGA ensigns immediately go the fleet to a position of leadership, not back to school.

I assume you are talking surface assignments here. Unless things have recently changed USNA surface selectees also go directly to the fleet. Any difference in responsibility between USCGA and USNA would be only what the graduate chose it to be.
 
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