Too early to contact BGOs?

Jason922

Future USNA Candidate '20
5-Year Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
Messages
119
I just got my official candidate letter and within three days, I e-mailed my BGO introducing myself. He didn't respond, presumably because it's way too early to schedule interviews/etc. When is the appropriate time to start BGO contact?
 
The Class of 2020 is now in the BGO system so it's fine to contact your BGO. Most won't schedule interviews until you complete about 50% of your packet but are happy to answer questions, etc. The fact your BGO hasn't yet responded may be b/c he's on vacation, traveling on business, busy, not yet focusing on your class, etc. Give him another week or so and then try again.
 
Just remember like USNA '85 says, they are people and have regular lives outside of their BGO work so sometimes it takes them a bit to get back to you. There's nothing pressing this early in the game so a week or two delay in getting a response may seem long, but it's really not. DS's BGO usually responded within a week and we grew to expect that.

Good idea when you do make contact with your BGO is to ask about communication expectations, .e.g., how often they want to hear from you?; what is typically response time to non-urgent matter vs. urgent matter and even how they like you to contact them. Some prefer phone and some email. Also ask when they would like to start scheduling interviews. DS's was in late summer.
 
Our specific BGO sent an email to the candidates telling them that he would schedule the interview after 100% of the application was completed, so there was not much interaction until the very end for us.
 
BGOs are always happy to talk to candidates as well as prospective candidates. However, we only "see" a class once it's entered into our system. Most BGOs focus on the current class. Until we know who those people are, that's somewhat hard to do. The Class of 2020 was just uploaded this past week so we are just now learning who is actually a candidate, what school the candidates attend, etc. In the meantime, we're doing appointment presentations for the Class of 2019 so many BGOs may not yet be following up with the new class.

As is stated in the BGO sticky, there is no need/requirement to contact your BGO just to say hello. You certainly are free to do so but please don't think you will get "brownie points" for so doing. If you have questions about USNA or the application process, then by all means ask your BGO -- it's part of what they're here for.

As also stated in the sticky and by posters above, BGOs are volunteers and many (if not most) have full-time jobs, families, community activities, etc. We travel on business. We take vacations. We attend family events such as weddings and graduations. We may not check our email every day or may not be in a great position to respond the day it's received.

For new candidates -- please be patient. 99% of the time, your BGO will get back to you. It may not be the instantaneous response you get from your friends and parents but it will come. Applying to USNA is a "marathon," not a sprint. There will be lots of moving parts over the coming year and not all of them will happen as quickly as you would like. One of the things you will learn is to wait . . . patience helps. A lot.:)
 
This is an insanely long ride. I know you want to get on the ride yesterday, but emotionally it could be 10 months from now before you hear any answer from any SA. You can't get an appointment until you have a nomination. The earliest nomination that I know that will be submitted is Presidential. Typical MoCs don't submit until Oct.

Let's take this from a different approach. Time to pretend and answer questions as if we were your BGO.
1. Are you a superstar hoping for an LOA?
~ I don't know about USNA, but LOAs are not common for USAFA. They are probably less common than a Principal nomination.
2. Have you been training/practicing for your CFA?
3. Are you working on your essays for nominations?
4. Contacted teachers for their recs?
5. Started the nrotc/nrotc MO scholarship?
6. Got your medical records in order, i.e. anything there that might result in a remedial or DQ?

I am not going to broach the traditional questions that are all over this place that they may ask? Why the Navy? What do you want to be as an officer in the Navy? What separates you from everyone else? Yadda, yadda, yadda.

You found this site, and now use it to your best advantage. Use the search tab and start reading as much as you can from previous posters threads. This way when you finally do get to meet your BGO, you will be able to answer any of those 6 questions I listed. you will also be able to actually have questions prepared for them that other candidates may not ask....
~ I see that our MoCs talk/spread the wealth due to how competitive our state is, what do you think I am lacking?

My cousin is a BGO in NY., a state where they spread the wealth. A year ago or so we were talking about his interviews. He said his first question and usually the 2nd are always the same.
1. What makes you competitive?
~ Response is typically...SAT, Class ranking, Sports, etc.
2. Everybody else has the same resume, so again what makes you competitive?

I am not trying to be antagonistic. I am trying to say, right now you have a leg up because you found this site. Now, be smart, look through the nomination forums, the ROTC forums, and SMC forums.

The BGO will contact you, but if it was me, I wouldn't be at this time being the 1st out of the gate with an interview. I would want to be the best out of the gate.
~ 1st impressions matter.

Just me. Just saying, that interview will include questions. The interview results should matter more than when you get the interview, especially since you are 4+ months out before meeting an SA board.
 
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