Can anyone tell me what this means?

My son is a hopeful for the USMA. His application was complete in October (including the fitness assessment and medical eval) and he received an e-mail from admissions stating that he would receive an LOA. He had his MOC interviews the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Last weekend we received a letter from his 'admissions specialist' stating he was 'found fully qualified', then he received a letter telling him his medical waiver had been approved.

Yesterday he received an overnight letter from the Director of Admissions stating "Congratulations! The Admissions Committeee has recommended you for an appointment to the United States Military Academy. Accordingly, I have reserved a cadetship for you contigent upon receipt of a nomination and continued excellent work at school. When these matters are resolved, you will be appointed a member of the USMA Class of 2014. Because this letter is sent only to outstanding candidates deserving an offer of admission, your accomplishments to date should be a source of special satisfaction to you and your family. Best of luck becoming a West Point Cadet."

His local liaison told my son to contact our MOC's and make sure they know he received this letter and to get them a copy on Monday. This isn't worded like some of the other candidates LOA's. It doesn't say, "letter of assurance" and it doesn't have an expiration date. His grades are always good but his
7th semester transcript won't be final until the end of January. Our MOC nominations could be released at any time.

While the letter is really nice, what exactly is it telling us? We don't want to get too excited.

NV_USMA_Mom said:

"Congratulations! The Admissions Committeee has recommended you for an appointment to the United States Military Academy. Accordingly, I have reserved a cadetship for you contigent upon receipt of a nomination and continued excellent work at school. When these matters are resolved, you will be appointed a member of the USMA Class of 2014.

Click to expand...

The LOA does not say "letter of assurance." It says what your letter says. Congratulations, your son has the golden ticket!!!!!!!

There is no expiration because the only thing he is waiting on is the nomination. NO question...its is an "LOA". Congratulations to you and your son!!!!

Thank you!! We'll wait for the nominations to come out and go from there!

M3B, my LOA says "letter of assurance."

First paragraph:

"Congratulations! The Admissions Committee has recommended you for an appointment to the United States Military Academy (USMA). Accordingly, I have reserved a cadetship for you contingent upon.... You must send the Admissions Office your...... by..... or this letter of assurance will be withdrawn. When these matters are resolved, you will be appointed a member of the USMA Class of 2014."

And in the third paragraph:

"The Admissions Public Relations Office offers overnight candidate orientation visits for candidates who have received this letter of assurance."

NV_USMA_Mom, since his is only contingent upon good grades and a nom, he doesn't have the expiration date, so that's why it is in the first paragraph. But unless he wasn't invited to an overnight visit, it should be in there.

Hmmm...I guess there are two versions. The one my son received didn't say letter of assurance, either. Either way, sounds like appointment coming very soon!

Congrats! That is an LoA. Mine only refernces that golden phrase in the 3rd paragraph about overnight visits.

I am worried about the wording. It says "upon receipt of a nomination and continued excellent work in school." I did receive a nomination last week. So now my Appointment is contigent on continued excellent work in school...

Is that their way of tactfully saying, "This can be revoked if you slack", or are they going to actually wait until they process my 7th semester grades to send an appointment?

I don't think they'd hold off on sending you the appointment, but understand the appointment can be revoked at any time for "significant reasons" (medical change, criminal charges, character concerns, grades). Any I've read about on the boards being revoked academically were only for failing a class, but I'd say if you go from a 4.0 to a 2.0 or something, I might be concerned. If you're talking I might get one B or C or similar, I wouldn't be worried.

All appointments are "Conditional" until you show up on R-Day and take the Oath.

Thanks again, everyone!

My son's letter does invite him for the overnight visit. As far as the nomination part, his liaison told him to contact our senators and congressman tomorrow morning to make sure they know he got the LOA and then provide them with a copy. His grades are really good, that is the easy part! He has 3 friends/former team mates currently at West Point. When they go for their overnight visits, would West Point pair him with someone that he knows or do they pair them with random cadets for a different perspective?