Letters of Recomendation

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Are letters of recomendation accepted for USMA and do they carry any weight in the admissions process? These would be from different people than those who completed the SOE's.
 
West Point doesn't accept Letters of Recommendation, but most likely, your Senators and Congressman/woman will require 3 for your application for a nomination.
 
So my DS is applying to 4 Academies and already has a 3Q'd application. Our district is not very competitive so I am confident that he will have no trouble in obtaining a nomination! Obtaining four nominations on the other hand might be a bit of a stretch. My question is whether or not my DS is able to receive multiple nominations from the same source? Also if he is not fortunate enough to receive an USMA nom, what are his chances of still receiving an appointment? If there is any chance.. Thanks for your help! Beat Navy!!
 
So my DS is applying to 4 Academies and already has a 3Q'd application. Our district is not very competitive so I am confident that he will have no trouble in obtaining a nomination! Obtaining four nominations on the other hand might be a bit of a stretch. My question is whether or not my DS is able to receive multiple nominations from the same source? Also if he is not fortunate enough to receive an USMA nom, what are his chances of still receiving an appointment? If there is any chance.. Thanks for your help! Beat Navy!!

Well it will be a little difficult to find a nom to four academies without the Presidential nom. Plus, it's really not that important to get an appointment to more than one academy unless you're really undecided. If it's just to say that "I got accepted to more than one academy" then come on... don't be that guy. Try hard for the one you want. If he has a first choice in academies (GO ARMY) then he should probably focus first and foremost on getting a nom to that one and only try for other academies if there are other, less-likely nomination sources left over.

To answer your second question: by law he needs a nomination for an appointment. So 0% if cannot get one. However, there are many opportunities to find a nomination, apply to all!
 
Well he is just really wants to be from an Academy and be a military pilot, so therefore I think it is great that he is applying to all the Academies! He was in this position last year and received his nomination for Navy but not AF which really limited his options, and that is one thing he wants to keep a lot open on! If I am correct though, if an Academy wants you bad enough, can't they find you unused nominations?
 
Well he is just really wants to be from an Academy and be a military pilot, so therefore I think it is great that he is applying to all the Academies! He was in this position last year and received his nomination for Navy but not AF which really limited his options, and that is one thing he wants to keep a lot open on! If I am correct though, if an Academy wants you bad enough, can't they find you unused nominations?

I'll comment on the first part of what you said, and maybe scoutpilot can chime in. Most fixed-wing aviation happens in the Air Force and Navy; the army is rotary wing (helicopters) with a handful of exceptions. So, the Navy would have been a great option if his primary objective is aviation. Now you mentioned he received a nomination, did he follow through and end up with an appointment to Navy?

As per keeping options open. Eventually a choice must be made; it's important to start prioritizing the academies and see which service offers the kinds of careers (the air force and the navy/marines do different things with their aviation) he's interested in.

Unused nominations: no. Not quite. You're probably thinking of the National Waiting List (NWL). If you have a nomination but you aren't chosen as the one from your congressional district for an appointment you will go onto the NWL. It is still possible to get an appointment from there, but, at that stage, you already have a nomination from your congressman. Nominations are a tricky subject, but the bottom line is: you need one. The Vice Presidential nom is another good one. Near the end of the admissions cycle; the top candidates who applied for a VP nom but did not receive an appointment will get the VP nom and an automatic appointment. It's worth applying for but very rare.

Final word: he needs to decide which academy he wants the most; you can only keep your options open for so long, this nomination stage is where you need to start deciding.
 
Good point about each service using their aviation differently.

While the Air Force and the Navy still have a ground support role, they handle it through ordnance primarily, which are fire and forget (A-10 is an exception as well as AC-130).

The Army's aviation actually sits just above those they are working with on the ground.

This is based on personal experience from three tours in Iraq as a tanker, so it is not doctrine.

While the Air Force, Navy and Marine corps aviation I worked with did outstanding things when assisting us ( Air Force dropping JDAMS and especially those mighty A-10s in the Iraq Invasion), the Army aviation was right there with those of us on the ground. I was able to actually have some pretty detailed discussions with the pilots about what I needed and they were able to be detailed in describing what they were seeing/shooting at.
 
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