Application Open?

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2029hopeful1984

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My son was accepted to session 1 of SLE. The only checklist or application items on his portal deal with SLE. Are there any other steps he should be taking right now for the C/O 2029 application?
 
2029hopeful1984 said:
My son was accepted to session 1 of SLE. The only checklist or application items on his portal deal with SLE. Are there any other steps he should be taking right now for the C/O 2029 application?
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No, be patient and wait for the second step kit to come out around may-June
 
He has already taken that step.
During the summer sometimes it is July, other times it is sooner, he will be able to 'see' the rest of the application in his portal...unless he is a poor candidate--but that is not your kid, he is accepted to SLE.

At SLE they teach the kids about the application process.

To get ready for the summer and completing his application early, he may wish to get the summer registrar's information from school as well as the names and email addresses of his teachers who will do Letters of Recommendation for him. I believe it is English, Math and Physics. He migth talk to them about 'will you work on this later in the summer?'

Also, he might connect with his Field Force Rep.

He should be preparing for the CFA...unless he is a shot putter or basketball player, he may wish to watch a video or two to practice the kneeling basketball throw.

Good luck to your son.
 
tlaw28 said:
No, be patient and wait for the second step kit to come out around may-June
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Okay, great!!
DrMom said:
He has already taken that step.
During the summer sometimes it is July, other times it is sooner, he will be able to 'see' the rest of the application in his portal...unless he is a poor candidate--but that is not your kid, he is accepted to SLE.

At SLE they teach the kids about the application process.

To get ready for the summer and completing his application early, he may wish to get the summer registrar's information from school as well as the names and email addresses of his teachers who will do Letters of Recommendation for him. I believe it is English, Math and Physics. He migth talk to them about 'will you work on this later in the summer?'

Also, he might connect with his Field Force Rep.

He should be preparing for the CFA...unless he is a shot putter or basketball player, he may wish to watch a video or two to practice the kneeling basketball throw.

Good luck to your son.
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Okay, perfect!! Thanks for the info!
 
Also, you should be able to look for your nomination sources: Senators, Congressman, Vice Presidential, and if it applies to your family the Presidential. Know the deadlines...so that he can work on the essays and assembling the material during the summer.
 
DrMom said:
He has already taken that step.
During the summer sometimes it is July, other times it is sooner, he will be able to 'see' the rest of the application in his portal...unless he is a poor candidate--but that is not your kid, he is accepted to SLE.

At SLE they teach the kids about the application process.

To get ready for the summer and completing his application early, he may wish to get the summer registrar's information from school as well as the names and email addresses of his teachers who will do Letters of Recommendation for him. I believe it is English, Math and Physics. He migth talk to them about 'will you work on this later in the summer?'

Also, he might connect with his Field Force Rep.

He should be preparing for the CFA...unless he is a shot putter or basketball player, he may wish to watch a video or two to practice the kneeling basketball throw.

Good luck to your son.
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I could be wrong, but I think it was phys ed, not physics teacher. The reason I think this is that DS's physics teacher had left the school, and we didn't have to track down contact info for that teacher.
 
O'sMom said:
I could be wrong, but I think it was phys ed, not physics teacher. The reason I think this is that DS's physics teacher had left the school, and we didn't have to track down contact info for that teacher.
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It's 4 letters of recommendation you need (at least for '28 it was) - Math, English, Physics/Chemistry, and Phys Ed.
 
2029hopeful1984 said:
My son was accepted to session 1 of SLE. The only checklist or application items on his portal deal with SLE. Are there any other steps he should be taking right now for the C/O 2029 application?
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Your DS should prepare for the short essays. Look for past prompts so he can start to collect his thoughts on the essays he will write.
There’s an application timeline posted on West Point’s website. Look for that. It’s a long year process and prepare to have lots of patience. Best of Luck!
 
+1 on getting the letters of recommendation now for the USMA app - before school is over for the summer break as teachers are very tough to track down over the summer. Also strong +1 on getting ready for the CFA and interview that will happen at SLE - getting those things done is a nice way of making progress early on in the application. And, lastly, it’s great to get the personal letter or recommendation writers signed up and agreed to help your son with the MOC application - our two senators had automated email links that went to the recommendation writers (family friends, coaches, employers, etc) and our congressional rep was old school with having the writers email their letters directly to the congressional office - so just know who is going to write them, coach them on what you want in those letters (there are examples to be found online) - have your son send them a nice note letting them know why he wants to attend the academy, his strengths, resume, etc so they can reference all those things in their letters consistently. Oh - my DS attended SLE this past summer and had a great time :)
 
ABKs said:
+1 on getting the letters of recommendation now for the USMA app - before school is over for the summer break as teachers are very tough to track down over the summer. Also strong +1 on getting ready for the CFA and interview that will happen at SLE - getting those things done is a nice way of making progress early on in the application. And, lastly, it’s great to get the personal letter or recommendation writers signed up and agreed to help your son with the MOC application - our two senators had automated email links that went to the recommendation writers (family friends, coaches, employers, etc) and our congressional rep was old school with having the writers email their letters directly to the congressional office - so just know who is going to write them, coach them on what you want in those letters (there are examples to be found online) - have your son send them a nice note letting them know why he wants to attend the academy, his strengths, resume, etc so they can reference all those things in their letters consistently. Oh - my DS attended SLE this past summer and had a great time :)
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In order to obtain letters of recommendation from teachers, do we need access to the application portal? Or will the letters be as simple as submitting a PDF of the letter?
 
As noted by @Gannonfan, West Point requires four web-based evaluations from the teachers noted: Math, English, Physics/Chemistry, and Phys Ed. Candidates will need access to the SSK to load their names and email addresses.

Also, as noted by several responses, collecting some recommendation letters from those same teachers may very well make sense as many MoC's require them for nomination applications in the fall. As I advise my students, it is not too early to collect these LORs as juniors in the spring, if the teachers are available. Other LORs from coaches, Scout leaders, etc., may be collected in the summer and later. The good news is you will avoid the senior 'rush' for letters next year! I'm sure your son (along with some of my students) will have fun at SLE!
 
You provide the email address in the USMA portal. USMA reaches out directly to the teacher. The teacher does not provide the official recommendation to the student. (However, they may be necessary for nomination packets with the Senators and Congressman).
Your student may wish to also inform his guidance counselor--so that the guidance counselor will be ready to provide his or her recommendation and send the official school documents.
 
eyesbright250 said:
In order to obtain letters of recommendation from teachers, do we need access to the application portal? Or will the letters be as simple as submitting a PDF of the letter?
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I heard from my recommenders that they needed to complete an evaluation, it was not a pdf upload.
 
Great advice to get cozy with the guidance or college advisor at your son’s school - you need their help multple times throughout the application process from helping to chase evaluations, candidate activity records, official transcripts, MOC application help/submissions, etc. Having a great counsellor who is on top of the process is invaluable…
 
ABKs said:
Great advice to get cozy with the guidance or college advisor at your son’s school - you need their help multple times throughout the application process from helping to chase evaluations, candidate activity records, official transcripts, MOC application help/submissions, etc. Having a great counsellor who is on top of the process is invaluable…
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Highly agree, my counselor has been great with sending the academies the necessary evaluations, LORs, and transcripts. My teachers have also been wonderful with filling out the multiple teacher evaluations for ROTC and SA applications. As a token of my appreciation, I got them all a nice Christman card with a gift card to Starbucks!
 
Sounds like your DS is on track. He will be far ahead of the game if he starts getting letters of recommendations before school lets out for the summer and getting some ideas for essays he will have to submit. When the portals open for applying to the academies do not delay in filling them out. The more complete the application the faster it seems that it triggers DODMETS which can take a long time. DS completed his USMA application pretty early and USMA was the first to send the request to DODMETS.
 
ABKs said:
Great advice to get cozy with the guidance or college advisor at your son’s school - you need their help multple times throughout the application process from helping to chase evaluations, candidate activity records, official transcripts, MOC application help/submissions, etc. Having a great counsellor who is on top of the process is invaluable…
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Totally agree! A good guidance counselor is invaluable. We plied ours with homemade goodies as a thank you.😬
 
Totally agree about the teacher recommendations and the guidance counselor. The guidance counselor needs to do a lot of work, so try to recruit him/her to your “team.”
 
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