Nov 1 Deadline, Will I hear back earlier?
- Thread starter lef9820
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Pima
10-Year Member
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There are a ton of threads here discussing this issue. The short answer is do not expect to hear anything until March. If you are a principal or LOA it will be earlier.
You need to understand the charging process for appointments to understand why March is the big month.
~ If you do not win the appointment from the MoC nomination slate than you may be sent to the national pool.
This is where the twist comes in. Just because your MoC submitted their slate in Nov., does not mean every MoC will. MoCs by law can wait until Jan. 31st to submit. Many do wait. That means USAFA has to charge those slates 1st before they can compile the national pool list.
You need to understand the charging process for appointments to understand why March is the big month.
~ If you do not win the appointment from the MoC nomination slate than you may be sent to the national pool.
This is where the twist comes in. Just because your MoC submitted their slate in Nov., does not mean every MoC will. MoCs by law can wait until Jan. 31st to submit. Many do wait. That means USAFA has to charge those slates 1st before they can compile the national pool list.
Christcorp
15-Year Member
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- May 21, 2008
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There's not much to "Hear Back Early" about.
If you were a candidate that the academy was going to give an LOA to, you probably would have heard about that by now. So, the ONLY thing to hear back about is: "YES" you received an appointment...... or "NO" you didn't receive an appointment. So, until you have a nomination in place, there's not really anything to hear from yet.
CAVEAT: There always is. Some individuals get Presidential nominations. These are for military brats and actually processed by the academy. Of all the nominations, these are some of the earliest nominations given. Depending on your application and when you applied for the presidential, you could have received this nomination back as early as July. If you have a presidential nomination, and your application is 100% completed, it is possible to hear back "Any Time" saying you received an appointment. On the other hand, admissions might hold off on giving an appointment based on a presidential nomination, to see how many presidentials they'll have and if you get any other nominations. It's also based on the individual applicant and the expected pool for that year.
This happened with my son. He had his application completed 100% in July. He also had his presidential nomination at that time. He received notification of his appointment the first of November. Before even attending any MOC nomination interviews. Had he not had a presidential nomination, he most likely wouldn't have heard anything until about January or February. Of course, if they had other individuals that they wanted to give an appointment to and they too had a presidential nomination, they could have waited on offering my son an appointment to see what nominations he got from his MOC.
So it can get quite complicated. There's so many facets to the appointment process and getting the right nomination slates filled, that it can get confusing. But the one thing is: If you don't have a presidential nomination, and you are going to be interviewing and hoping for a MOC nomination, there is absolutely no reason to expect to hear ANYTHING until after your MOC submits their nomination slate to the academy. There's no reason to contact you. Like I said previously, if you got an LOA, you probably would have gotten that by now. And unless you have a presidential nomination, there isn't a thing the academy can tell you until you "DO" or "DON'T" receive a MOC nomination. So basically, don't expect to hear anything.
Fortunately, the academy is also very flexible. They could think your application walks on water and they want to give you a late LOA to entice your MOC to give you a nomination. There's countless scenarios that the academy can do. It's their prerogative.
If you were a candidate that the academy was going to give an LOA to, you probably would have heard about that by now. So, the ONLY thing to hear back about is: "YES" you received an appointment...... or "NO" you didn't receive an appointment. So, until you have a nomination in place, there's not really anything to hear from yet.
CAVEAT: There always is. Some individuals get Presidential nominations. These are for military brats and actually processed by the academy. Of all the nominations, these are some of the earliest nominations given. Depending on your application and when you applied for the presidential, you could have received this nomination back as early as July. If you have a presidential nomination, and your application is 100% completed, it is possible to hear back "Any Time" saying you received an appointment. On the other hand, admissions might hold off on giving an appointment based on a presidential nomination, to see how many presidentials they'll have and if you get any other nominations. It's also based on the individual applicant and the expected pool for that year.
This happened with my son. He had his application completed 100% in July. He also had his presidential nomination at that time. He received notification of his appointment the first of November. Before even attending any MOC nomination interviews. Had he not had a presidential nomination, he most likely wouldn't have heard anything until about January or February. Of course, if they had other individuals that they wanted to give an appointment to and they too had a presidential nomination, they could have waited on offering my son an appointment to see what nominations he got from his MOC.
So it can get quite complicated. There's so many facets to the appointment process and getting the right nomination slates filled, that it can get confusing. But the one thing is: If you don't have a presidential nomination, and you are going to be interviewing and hoping for a MOC nomination, there is absolutely no reason to expect to hear ANYTHING until after your MOC submits their nomination slate to the academy. There's no reason to contact you. Like I said previously, if you got an LOA, you probably would have gotten that by now. And unless you have a presidential nomination, there isn't a thing the academy can tell you until you "DO" or "DON'T" receive a MOC nomination. So basically, don't expect to hear anything.
Fortunately, the academy is also very flexible. They could think your application walks on water and they want to give you a late LOA to entice your MOC to give you a nomination. There's countless scenarios that the academy can do. It's their prerogative.
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Pima and Christcorp know what they're talking about way more than I do and have already given great advice, but I'll still throw in my $.02 since I went through a similar process last year.
Honestly, I would not expect to hear anything before March if I were you. I also got my application in before Nov. 1, and given that I was 3Q'd with 2 nominations, I was kind of expecting to get an early appointment. That was a big mistake on my part that caused me a lot of anxiety. January came and went and the only new word that showed up on my portal was "Deferred", along with a really polite but disappointing letter saying that I'd have to wait two or three more months.
IMHO, even if you are a "superstar" candidate, you still shouldn't expect an early appointment. Unless you are a recruited athlete, you likely won't hear anything till March. Frustrating, I know (I went through the same thing last year), but it's better to know in advance what to expect.
At the same time, don't let anyone ever tell you there's no chance of getting an early appointment. It may happen!
Just don't expect it--that way you'll save yourself from the same anxiety I felt last year.
Honestly, I would not expect to hear anything before March if I were you. I also got my application in before Nov. 1, and given that I was 3Q'd with 2 nominations, I was kind of expecting to get an early appointment. That was a big mistake on my part that caused me a lot of anxiety. January came and went and the only new word that showed up on my portal was "Deferred", along with a really polite but disappointing letter saying that I'd have to wait two or three more months.
IMHO, even if you are a "superstar" candidate, you still shouldn't expect an early appointment. Unless you are a recruited athlete, you likely won't hear anything till March. Frustrating, I know (I went through the same thing last year), but it's better to know in advance what to expect.
At the same time, don't let anyone ever tell you there's no chance of getting an early appointment. It may happen!
Just don't expect it--that way you'll save yourself from the same anxiety I felt last year. 
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WBY - very wise words indeed.At the same time, don't let anyone ever tell you there's no chance of getting an early appointment. It may happen!
Badge250
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DS was very anxious when he didn't get an Early Action appointment in 2014. Just based on his stats/resume we thought he would. We found out, you just never know. Long story made short: It was not that big a deal in the large scheme of things. He got an appointment in March (like so very many others) and on I-Day he got in line with the others who reported that day and NO ONE asked if he got his appointment in January or March (or April, May or June). Don't let the stress of the unknown keep you from enjoying these quickly passing last few months of your senior year of High School.
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^^^^^ Wish I could double-"like" that, Badge250. That is EXACTLY how it is. No one cares once you're here--from I-Day onward, there are much more important things to worry about. 