Anyone else still waiting out there?

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RockyB said:
I am !
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Being a malcontent with the process is not a qualification. And if the process of applying is taxing you to the point of lashing out with such sadly ignorant statements, the Military Academy may not be the best environment with which to interact.
 
scoutpilot said:
Being a malcontent with the process is not a qualification. And if the process of applying is taxing you to the point of lashing out with such sadly ignorant statements, the Military Academy may not be the best environment with which to interact.
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You continue to support my original assertion.
 
RockyB said:
You continue to support my original assertion.
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Why you feel so hostile toward the process, I don't know. But the fact remains that USMA owes no candidate anything but a yes/no decision remains true. USMA does not exist to serve candidates or parents. It exists to serve the Army mission.

Either buy into that reality, or don't and move on from the Army and West Point.

That's the greater point of this thread. This is a situation of limited resources and limitless wants. It's a shame that not every candidate can be accepted. Generally speaking, the best will. That's good for the Army and good for the nation.
 
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scoutpilot said:
Why you feel so hostile toward the process, I don't know. But the fact remains that USMA owes no candidate anything but a yes/no decision remains true. USMA does not exist to serve candidates or parents. It exists to serve the Army mission.

Either buy into that reality, or don't and move on from the Army and West Point.
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USMA only exists because the fine men and women of this country who want to serve and serve at a high level.

Isert orginal assertion again. Thanks for the support
 
RockyB said:
USMA only exists because the fine men and women of this country who want to serve and serve at a high level.

Isert orginal assertion again. Thanks for the support
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Please try to show some maturity. This isn't a place for sour grapes, especially so early in your membership here.
 
RockyB said:
Ditto on frustrating !!!! The communication process is subpar.

Also not helping matters is that this years class, more than others over last few years, is paying for the sins off excess enrollment and low attrition.
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What would you improve with the communications process?

Is it the academies, the liaisons, your Congressional representatives, this board?

I can promise you, everybody that has been involved in the process has felt your frustration at one time or another- BUT I don't understand what you are asking to have changed.
 
I keep reading courtesy of a reply well you will get one just not yet. It is just not West point but other schools are not always able to say yes or no right away.It is a frustrating process trust me this is my second time but, it is no different then an adult awaiting an answer for a job . We would not go on any message board and start complaining. I agree the process is not perfect and some things I do not agree with. You must look at the entire picture and how many applications they have to go through. Things I really do not like would be even more time consuming to review and they would be unable to let the kids have an answer till the day before R day.
 
I believe West Point is more forthcoming than the Ivy League and other top schools. My son applied and was accepted to an Ivy School and MIT (but chose West Point) last year. We received ZERO INFORMATION from the Ivy school and MIT during the process. We received several valuable inputs from the WP admissions officials during this period. The Ivy schools and MIT announced their admissions decisions on April 1. There were no Regional Officers to call and get information, no Field Force to help with the process, no web site (that I know of) to check your status - just silence. The head of the ROTC at this Universary very much wanted my son to come to his ROTC program but he told us that he had no influence on the Admissions process and could not get ANY advanced information from the Admissions people.

I think WP does a very good job keeping people as informed as possible - however, it is difficult selecting 1150 (or so) from about 2400 fully qualified, wonderful, highly motivated, deserving, nominated candidates within the Title 10 Laws.

The only thing you can do is wait. If your DS is not chosen and wants to try again next year I suggest you use your energy to determine the relative weakness in your application and how to make those weaknesses strengths next year.

I believe the system (not perfect) is successful in selecting the right people for WP. I also believe that in our society today that many people feel that if their son, daughter, organization, team etc is not selected then the system is at fault. Fighting the system will not get your DS in WP.
 
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BigNick said:
I believe West Point is more forthcoming than the Ivy League and other top schools. My son applied and was accepted to an Ivy School and MIT (but chose West Point) last year. We received ZERO INFORMATION from the Ivy school and MIT during the process. We received several valuable inputs from the WP admissions officials during this period. The Ivy schools and MIT announced their admissions decisions on April 1. There were no Regional Officers to call and get information, no Field Force to help with the process, no web site (that I know of) to check your status - just silence. The head of the ROTC at this Universary very much wanted my son to come to his ROTC program but he told us that he had no influence on the Admissions process and could not get ANY advanced information from the Admissions people.

I think WP does a very good job keeping people as informed as possible - however, it is difficult selecting 1150 (or so) from about 2400 fully qualified, wonderful, highly motivated, deserving, nominated candidates within the Title 10 Laws.

The only thing you can do is wait. If your DS is not chosen and wants to try again next year I suggest you use your energy to determine the relative weakness in your application and how to make those weaknesses strengths next year.

I believe the system (not perfect) is successful in selecting the right people for WP. I also believe that in our society today that many people feel that if their son, daughter, organization, team etc is not selected then the system is at fault. Fighting the system will not get your DS in WP.
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Wrong. West Point owes candidates more. They should get daily emails from the Supe and a Valentine from their RC. :wink:
 
WP

My opinion, Ricky B states these fine young men and women that have applied for WP are owed an response and I agree. I belive that will happen. When WP have made their decision, they will respect and respond to all those fine young men and women who applied will received what is owe to them....Accept or decline and thanks for your interest. Ricky B is not wrong in that, they are owed that and they will get that! All that still wait, good luck and those that are not accepted, its great to know we have so many wonderful students. Parents its been a diificult road for some of us, if you have a suggestion on how to improve the system for follwers, please make them...Im sure WP will be grateful!
 
Ups/Downs said:
My opinion, Ricky B states these fine young men and women that have applied for WP are owed an response and I agree. I belive that will happen. When WP have made their decision, they will respect and respond to all those fine young men and women who applied will received what is owe to them....Accept or decline and thanks for your interest. Ricky B is not wrong in that, they are owed that and they will get that! All that still wait, good luck and those that are not accepted, its great to know we have so many wonderful students. Parents its been a diificult road for some of us, if you have a suggestion on how to improve the system for follwers, please make them...Im sure WP will be grateful!
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I don't recall anyone contending that the candidates are owed anything less than a response. The problem is when folks start wanting constant feedback and input. As BigNick said, USMA is far more forthcoming with updates than the standard hope&wait method of other top schools.

Are they owed a response? Absolutely! Does West Point owe them "everything"? Not a chance.
 
scoutpilot said:
I don't recall anyone contending that the candidates are owed anything less than a response. The problem is when folks start wanting constant feedback and input. As BigNick said, USMA is far more forthcoming with updates than the standard hope&wait method of other top schools.

Are they owed a response? Absolutely! Does West Point owe them "everything"? Not a chance.
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OK now its doesn't owe them "everything" vs "anything" or nothing in earlier remarks. My original assertion continues to be supported.
 
OK now its doesn't owe them "everything" vs "anything" or nothing in earlier remarks. My original assertion continues to be supported.

What is your original assertion? You have repeated the above statement several times, so I thought it might be a good idea if you repeat your original assertion. That may help because I honestly dont know. I do know BigNick stated WP owes nothing "except a yes or no". So, what is your original assertion. B
 
Ups/Downs said:
OK now its doesn't owe them "everything" vs "anything" or nothing in earlier remarks. My original assertion continues to be supported.

What is your original assertion? You have repeated the above statement several times, so I thought it might be a good idea if you repeat your original assertion. That may help because I honestly dont know. I do know BigNick stated WP owes nothing "except a yes or no". So, what is your original assertion. B
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See post #106
 
and #127...

What are you asking to be changed?

Do you have a solution, or are you just griping?
 
RockyB said:
OK now its doesn't owe them "everything" vs "anything" or nothing in earlier remarks. My original assertion continues to be supported.
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What was your original assertion again? I'm happy to reassert mine. Here are my earlier remarks...

Scoutpilot said:
We see these threads yearly, with complaints about how the "communication stinks" and West Point "should really let us know X, Y, and Z by now" and so forth.

West Point doesn't owe you anything besides a "yes" or a "no." That includes having no responsibility for allaying your fears and anxiety about whether or not you're getting in. The RCs are as busy as can be and they work for institution which owes you nothing more than an opportunity to apply as an American citizen. If you have gotten this far, be thankful.

I understand everyone wants to know and is hoping fervently for acceptance. That is a hard pill to swallow...sit and wait. That, however, is reality. West Point does not owe you a blow by blow accounting of every step of your application or a realtime ticker of the odds of acceptance for any one candidate at any one time.

At midnight on April 30, those who haven't accepted their offers will lose them. A select few will receive an offer after that.

Continuing to gripe because little Johnny or Suzy hasn't heard yet does nothing, and the endless merry-go-round of complaining gets tiresome quickly and is insulting to the RCs who work feverishly and the Field Force members (like yours truly, BigNick, and others) who give up night after night of our time to help someone else's kids get accepted to the college of their dreams. Every parent has a little Johnny or Suzy and they all want the same answers. Sometimes that isn't feasible.

Squat and hold, airborne. Your answer will come. It may not be what you liked, but it will come.
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Then I restated the same thing...

Scoutpilot said:
Telling the truth is not condescending. It's reality. WP owes a yes or no to each candidate. Each will receive that. Why everyone thinks WP owes an endless amount of information to applicants that would not be offered by Harvard or State U admissions is beyond me. In that regard, WP owes you nothing beyond a decision. I have no problem sympathizing with anxiety. What I don't care for is people acting as though WP is somehow failing to give them what they believe they're owed.
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And then I said it again...

Scoutpilot said:
Why you feel so hostile toward the process, I don't know. But the fact remains that USMA owes no candidate anything but a yes/no decision remains true. USMA does not exist to serve candidates or parents. It exists to serve the Army mission.
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And one more time...

Scoutpilot said:
I don't recall anyone contending that the candidates are owed anything less than a response. The problem is when folks start wanting constant feedback and input. As BigNick said, USMA is far more forthcoming with updates than the standard hope&wait method of other top schools.

Are they owed a response? Absolutely! Does West Point owe them "everything"? Not a chance.
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The same point, made over and over and over. Why did I use the line "Does West Point owe them "everything"? Because of this post...

RockyB said:
Really hope.you are not a past present or future represemtative of our military. WP owes everything to these kids especially a courtesy of a reply
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That's been the only serious assertion that West Point owes "everything" to high school applicants.

It appears from your other posts in other threads that you, yourself, are a candidate and not a parent. I'll take your remarks about my military service with a grain of salt.
 
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I should start by saying that I agree with the majority consensus of this thread: no one/thing owes me or my kid anything in this world.

That said, the WP admissions process can go on much longer and be more involved than that of a civilian institution, with arguably more at stake. My daughter's application file was opened in December 2010 and it has been the primary focus for her emotional energy ever since. There are some things that would have helped make this ordeal easier for her, but I am not asserting that WP or any affiliates OWE her anything.

Nominations are listed in the candidate's portal. I'm wondering how difficult it would be to update the status of that slot when it changes. The first Senator's unranked nomination was received in early October, with the slot promptly awarded to another candidate (which we didn't find out about until recently). Notification that daughter was on the NWL didn't come until early January. She spent the entire holiday season meeting the postman on a daily basis, hoping for a BFE. That could have been avoided if the portal simply indicated that action had been taken and the slot was filled. Again, does WP OWE her this? Absolutely not. And we are grateful to have received a NWL letter, which some candidates have not. Is it a huge problem? NO. Is it difficult to watch my daughter experience this? YES. Does anyone else care? NO. Do I have the expectation that they should? NO

The second nomination came in late December, again unranked and again another candidate was offered the appointment. Daily visits to the postbox have been the norm for the past 6 months, to the point where the postman is trying to set daughter up with his son. A hopeful waste of time and emotional energy which a portal status update could have eliminated.

We've known USMA to be a longshot from the beginning, and Plans B and C have been concurrently humming along. We also acknowledge that the admissions folks have a really tough job, and that there are moving parts to this process that we're unaware of. This has been a really helpful forum for us to gather information, and to vent a bit, and for that we're grateful.
 
I can understand your sentiment there.

I guess we were blessed with more outgoing liaisons. We were called almost immediately when our DS did not receive the primary nomination and were told he was competitive, but that we would have to wait out the process on the NWL. We knew from that moment that it could be MAY before we heard anything.

There were times when we didn't have answers and our DS called his liaison and was given more info.

We didn't find out about his Plan B, which was a AFROTC scholarship until February( if I recall correctly,) and actually last week we were informed of a substantial increase in scholarship from the school itself. Yes, it felt really freaking weird turning down basically a full ride to what is a well respected state school in Texas with its own tradition of molding military leaders.

I guess my point is that other entities are getting into their final decisions as well. The anxiety of checking the mailbox ended for us when the liaison officer told us our DS was on the NWL. I mean, yeah, you still open that sucker every day with a bit of anticipation, and when the AoG letter came, we didn't even know what had happened. When our son turned down the AFROTC scholly, someone else got the call in late April.

Whether it is a state school or WP, they want the best slate of candidates until the very end of the selection process. It is great if your DS has not received the TWE yet, IMO.
 
SP - My original assertion was "I hope you are not a past, present or future representation of our military."

I also love all those in the camp of WP owes my son or daugther nothing, BUT, this or that can be done better. Sure sounds like you agree the process needs to, or should, improve. Thats all many were saying on this thread. Communicate to these kids, who have spent well over a year communicating to WP with every minutia of data, so they can make a major life decision.
 
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