Candidate Weekend Visit

summer1942

5-Year Member
Joined
May 19, 2010
Messages
81
My son and I will have a CWV sometime in Dec. I understand that my son will be dragged along by a mid for 2 days, but I do not know what are the activities for a parent if any.

Will USNA funding for any expense such as transportation, hotel, meal ???
 
The parents are on a separate schedule except for one tour on friday but there are a lot of briefimgs for the parents if I remember what I saw on the schedule right. And as for an answer to your other question no the Academy doesn't provide funding for the parents but everything for the candidate is free except for travel expenses.
 
For targeted priority needs of Navy candidates, it would be worth asking about funding. They may well have available recruitment funds for such.
 
To the best of my knowledge, there isn't funding for CVWs. Obviously, the candidate's "hotel" (Bancroft Hall), and meals (King Hall) are taken care of. Transportation is, I believe, at your own expense. I agree it's worth asking for help if you have insufficient finances to cover transportation.

I can't imagine USNA funding anything for parents. While there are activities for parents at CVW and now (as opposed to my day) parents are encouraged to participate, it is called "Candidate Visitation WE" for a reason.:smile:
 
We attended our son's CVW last March. It was very helpful for us, as we had no prior experience with (i) service academies, in particular, or (ii) the military, in general. We had very little idea what our son was getting into.

It was a very helpful experience. On Thursday late-afternoon we attended a joint presentation, after which our son took off with his host and we went into Annapolis for dinner. The next day we took a general tour of the Yard in the morning, had lunch at Drydock and then attended another joint session in Alumni Hall followed by a tour of the engineering labs.

The CVW sealed the deal for our son, who had received his appointment in late January. We didn't want him to accept the appointment until all of us had seen USNA. He is now a Plebe, so obviously, it all worked out.
 
On Thursday late-afternoon we attended a joint presentation, after which our son took off with his host and we went into Annapolis for dinner. The next day we took a general tour of the Yard in the morning, had lunch at Drydock and then attended another joint session in Alumni Hall followed by a tour of the engineering labs.

Same general flow this fall....

Thursday evening check-in & short info session & hand-off. Plan on a later dinner in Annapolis.

Much of Friday daytime the parents will be on campus in tours & info sessions. Free again for dinner, but much earlier.

Sat you'll be free in the morning, pickup your candidate right at lunchtime. (We chose to eat in the dry dock because the kids will not have eaten).

Either Friday or Sat AM you'll want to see the chapel & museum, which are not covered in detail normally in the tour.

It's your best chance to get a feel for USNA & cadet life. It's still not a total view into cadet life as with 200'ish visitors there much of the routine is changed. And plebe discipline is clearly relaxed for the visit.

Baltimore is close with things to see. Fort McHenry is very close to USNA and is an easy morning or afternoon visit, and there are some good seafood restaurants near there as well.

Plan on traffic getting in & out of USNA, and parking & waits can be challenging if trying to eat in downtown Annapolis, especially on the weekends. (You will be able to park on USNA for the scheduled events, just bring your letter).

If you do want to eat in downtown Annapolis, you may want to leave your car in USNA, walk out the main gate and take the trolley/shuttle around downtown. Far easier than parking if the weather is nice.

You'll have to make hotel arrangements for all but the candidate. Staying in Annapolis downtown is very high ($300-400/night at times). We found the Quality Inn ($100/night) close by on highway 50 to be a reasonable choice, and it's just 5-10 minutes away from USNA. (You'll want to use the back way to the USNA main gate). There are not many inexpensive hotel options nearby, so just be prepared.

Hope this helps!
 
Booking hotels near USNA for a CVW

Try Priceline.com (name your own price option)...select DTA area , 3 +star and bid $69(non-football/ Boat Show weekends).....works for me 3 years running !:thumb:
 
I want to clarify my earlier comments about parents and CVW. I was making the point that USNA won't subsidize parental attendance and that the PRIMARY purpose of CVW is to afford well-qualified candidates an opportunity to see USNA "in action."

That said, if you as parents can financially and time-wise afford to attend, you should do so. As the above posters have stated, USNA provides a lot of valuable information about USNA, which can be very helpful especially for those parents who have little knowledge of the military. If you can't afford to go yourself but can get your child/candidate there, please send him/her. CVW is well worth doing even if you as parents can't attend.
 
Try Priceline.com (name your own price option)...select DTA area , 3 +star and bid $69(non-football/ Boat Show weekends).....works for me 3 years running !:thumb:

Hotwire.com is much cheaper. We have used it many times and have always been satisfied. Many people shy away from Hotwire because they are not sure which hotel they will be staying at until after they are committed to pay.

However, based on the star-rating alone, I can predict which hotel you'll be staying at.

4.0-star = Loews Annapolis Hotel (126 West Street)
4.0-star = Westin Annapolis (100 Westgate Circle)
3.5-star = Sheraton Annapolis (173 Jennifer Road)
3.0-star = Doubletree Hotel Annapolis (210 Holiday Court)
2.0-star = Best Western Annapolis (2520 Riva Road)
2.0-star = Comfort Inn (76 Old Mill Bottom Road)


None of the 4-star hotels (Loews & Westin) have free internet nor free parking. However, they are very conveniently located. In good weather, both of these hotels are actually within walking distance to the Academy. They tend to be more expensive, however.

The Sheraton is nice because it is across the street from the Annapolis Mall. Lots of places to eat.

The Doubletree is relatively new and very clean.

All of these hotels are very close to the Academy.

Again, when booking on Hotwire, they do not tell you the specific hotel. That's why they can give such low rates. You have to be willing to be flexible. But if you put "Annapolis, MD" as a search parameter - it will come up with several "Annapolis area" hotels. Not all hotels participate in the Hotwire program. The above hotels all participate and can be "identified" by their star-rating.
 
There are websites that give advice on using Hotwire and Priceline. I have had great success with PL. Basic strategy is to search Hotwire first, then bid 20% below Hotwire price on PL. Stayed at Sheraton in August for $60.
 
3 +star and bid $69(non-football/ Boat Show weekends)

The qualifier is critical- the CVW DS attended was *both* a football weekend and boatshow!!

Hotels were tough in general to get and priceline/hotwire had nothing in the immediate area. We ended up calling the hotels themselves to get a room at all.
 
Attended CVW with current plebe

If you can afford to go, I would go with your child to CVW. The first night pretty informative admission powerpoint you view with your child. Next day, had a roundtable discussion where parents could ask questions to current students and then to current parents of mids. I learned alot at each of these.

Remind your child, he will be evaluated by the plebe that he drags with. My plebe has already done two CVW's this year.
 
The qualifier is critical- the CVW DS attended was *both* a football weekend and boatshow!!

Hotels were tough in general to get and priceline/hotwire had nothing in the immediate area. We ended up calling the hotels themselves to get a room at all.

DH/DS were at the same CVW and just stayed in Baltimore for $62 a night and did the commute instead!
 
Remind your child, he will be evaluated by the plebe that he drags with. My plebe has already done two CVW's this year.

Here we go again... CVW is not used for any additional admissions purposes, it is a marketing tool in which Admissions is giving certain applicants an opportunity to visit the Academy and see first hand the workings of Bancroft Hall and all. There are many who attend who ALREADY have appointments. The evaluations that the Mids do is used as a leadership learning tool for the Mids, not for admissions to have extra info to evaluate a candidate.

Unless your candidate does something really stupid they are not really being evaluated. Let your candidate go to cvw with an open mind, not a worrying mindset that they are on display 100% and can not relax or ask the questions that maybe they need to ask. Trust your sons and daughters, do not nag on them that they are going to be evaluated.
 
We knew a Mid who ran a request chit up the chain of command to have DD attend a couple of classes with him (incuding Chow Calls, etc) and experiance regular life as a Mid during the 2 days we were there. In addition, DD arranged meetings with the admissions officer, music director, sports, and a couple of other people. This is NOT the norm and a lot of coordination, permission, and contacts were set in place before this could happen. DD has a dependant ID card as I am retired Navy (Chapter 61), which a copy was given with the request chit. (I blocked out privacy act).

As a Dad, the admissions officer reviewed DD application, made suggestions, and saw the motivation DD had to get in. Again, this is NOT the norm as the Academy simply does not have to staff to escort candidates a specialized tour throughout the year. We had a lot of help and the midshipmen who helped us was a family friend.
 
I just booked 2 rooms( again) at the Annapolis Westin at $60/night for ARMY-NAVY Game(B-Ball)weekend in February thru priceline.com...so it can be done:thumb: I seem to remember that weekend being a CVW last year.

GO NAVY Beat ARMY
 
How do you get a CVW? is it meant for people that didn't go to NASS?
 
CVW is for any candidate regardless of if they went to NASS or not. The only deal with CVW is that those who go are invited to attend by the academy.
 
But ...if one is in the hunt, and wants to go, they (USNA Admissions) often respond to requests. Never hurts to ask. No checkmarks nor demerits go into one's whole person score, whatever the answer may be. This scenario calls for no egg-walking. But the requester should be the candidate.:wink:
 
Back
Top