LOA but no CVW?

leahwass

5-Year Member
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Nov 13, 2011
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I recently received a LOA but I have not been invited to a candidate visitation weekend.. I have spoken to other candidates who were invited for a CVW but have not received an LOA. Is it strange that I have not received an invitation?
 
I recently received a LOA but I have not been invited to a candidate visitation weekend.. I have spoken to other candidates who were invited for a CVW but have not received an LOA. Is it strange that I have not received an invitation?

Our read is that USNA and USMA apparently have different objectives around overnight visits.

DS's experience was that most CVW participants were largely undecided around USNA, probably still had more interest in civvy schools, etc.

And thus CVW was more "marketing" focused around the school, what it offered. But less focused on what is life as a cadet like. Exposure focused on getting candidates to complete their app.

There was not any structure that would allow LOA holders, Appointees, or even those with "qualified" status to help make that final go/no go decision, etc. In fact, from observation, it appears more were there that had not completed apps, much less reached qualified status.

This is a sweeping generalization, but we were struck by how casually most candidates and families approached CVW.

DS had previously attended overnight at USMA, so the contrast was very strong. At USMA he met with company commanders & platoon leaders 1:1. Same for admissions. Reviewed his package with the admissions rep on duty.

At CVW the only interaction with any cadet other than the drag & his roomates was the squad leader poking his head in the door and asking "Having fun? Great!". 30 seconds. No admissions interaction other than 15 minutes from the stage with a hundred other candidates. And in that, there was more branch rivalry boasting (jets vs subs vs marines) than any time spent in admissions Q&A.

Candidates & drags were confined to barracks rooms when not in an organized event or at class. At USMA, the drag introduced DS to pretty much the whole company, toured him all over campus. Cooks tour so to speak.

What I don't know is if USNA offers separate overnights for LOA holder/appointees like USMA does. If not, they should. I understand the need for CVW, but our experience was it's a totally different focus. And at a completely different level of professionalism.

To be clear, any visit would be better than none, but as an LOA holder you would probably not get your final questions answered nor a real view of life as a mid if that's your intent.
 
If you live close to the Academy, that might be another thing. Try calling your admissions officer and asking for a visit. I did. It worked.

As to the visit itself, everybody has a completely different experience. Mine was awesome, everyone was helpful, and even though I didn't have many questions going in, a bunch of people brought up a few that I hadn't thought about (and promptly answered them). I met and spent a fair amount of time with the leaders of my plebe's company, but did not get much of a tour of the Yard itself. I agree with Hawk about the casualness of a lot of the drags. Seemed strange to me. At least, at certain times - no need to be uptight in your plebe's room, but I saw a few kids that probably could have shown some more respect to the upper class.

Kinda went off on a tangent, that's my bad. Um, call and ask if you can be put on the list. There are plenty more visit weekends. And just try everything when you're there.
 
Our read is that USNA and USMA apparently have different objectives around overnight visits.

DS's experience was that most CVW participants were largely undecided around USNA, probably still had more interest in civvy schools, etc.

And thus CVW was more "marketing" focused around the school, what it offered. But less focused on what is life as a cadet like. Exposure focused on getting candidates to complete their app.

There was not any structure that would allow LOA holders, Appointees, or even those with "qualified" status to help make that final go/no go decision, etc. In fact, from observation, it appears more were there that had not completed apps, much less reached qualified status.

This is a sweeping generalization, but we were struck by how casually most candidates and families approached CVW.

DS had previously attended overnight at USMA, so the contrast was very strong. At USMA he met with company commanders & platoon leaders 1:1. Same for admissions. Reviewed his package with the admissions rep on duty.

At CVW the only interaction with any cadet other than the drag & his roomates was the squad leader poking his head in the door and asking "Having fun? Great!". 30 seconds. No admissions interaction other than 15 minutes from the stage with a hundred other candidates. And in that, there was more branch rivalry boasting (jets vs subs vs marines) than any time spent in admissions Q&A.

Candidates & drags were confined to barracks rooms when not in an organized event or at class. At USMA, the drag introduced DS to pretty much the whole company, toured him all over campus. Cooks tour so to speak.

What I don't know is if USNA offers separate overnights for LOA holder/appointees like USMA does. If not, they should. I understand the need for CVW, but our experience was it's a totally different focus. And at a completely different level of professionalism.

To be clear, any visit would be better than none, but as an LOA holder you would probably not get your final questions answered nor a real view of life as a mid if that's your intent.

I actually find that most of the drags I speak with (the candidates are the drags, not the plebes) have USNA as their first choice and are using the CVW for confirmation. I've met a few that are undecided but for the most part they are pretty confident in their decisions.

I'm not sure how one can find that a CVW doesn't give a real view in the life of a mid as the drags live with plebes for 2 days and go everywhere with them. Plebes and drags definitely aren't confined to Bancroft when they aren't in class or at an organized event. However, drag or no drag, a plebe still has to do his or her job which includes studying for and passing a quiz on professional knowledge on friday nights among various other things. So, there are some things done to make a drag's stay more exciting for the most part he or she sees the actual life of a plebe with all the suck. It sounds like your DS dragged with a plebe that had a lot of homework that weekend.
 
My son had an LOA to Army and Navy. He was a blue chip recruit for Army, so they flew him up. Navy was interested, but not enough to fly him up. He asked the admissions dept for a CVW and received it. As soon as he returned, he put his USMA acceptance card in the mail. He basically went because I made him...he loved USMA from the get go. It's important to visit any school; whether on your $ or theirs. How else are you going to get a "feel" for it or determine if it's a good fit for you? It was worth what we paid for him to get there, so he knew without a doubt he was making the right choice. When the Army coach called and asked why he hadn't received his acceptance yet, he said, "My mom's making visit Navy!" You need to find what works for you; ask for a CVW; the worst they can say is no.
 
I recently received a LOA but I have not been invited to a candidate visitation weekend.. I have spoken to other candidates who were invited for a CVW but have not received an LOA. Is it strange that I have not received an invitation?

I asked for a CVW and got. This was before receiving a LOA.

Did asking for CVW made them look at my file and consider a LOA for me? I don't know

I asked a RD by email and got 2 options- I took the Dec 1-3 one.

If you want a CVW, try asking (but your application must be complete minus dodmerb, CFA, and nomination)
 
I asked my RD and he quickly e-mailed me back and scheduled me to attend the weekend in January! Thank you!
 
I'm not sure how one can find that a CVW doesn't give a real view in the life of a mid as the drags live with plebes for 2 days and go everywhere with them. Plebes and drags definitely aren't confined to Bancroft when they aren't in class or at an organized event. However, drag or no drag, a plebe still has to do his or her job which includes studying for and passing a quiz on professional knowledge on friday nights among various other things. So, there are some things done to make a drag's stay more exciting for the most part he or she sees the actual life of a plebe with all the suck. It sounds like your DS dragged with a plebe that had a lot of homework that weekend.

To be clear- any visit is better than no visit. What DS saw during his CVW was that the plebe schedule was changed enough due to having the volume of drags there that it was not representative.

Also not trying to make imply USMA > USNA. (Though it is that time of year :smile: )

Just that the two schools seem to have a different objectives for their visit programs. And I think I recall someone confirming last year that CVW is more focused on getting people with less exposure interested in USNA from under represented areas. And ideally to complete there application. That does seem to align with the activities we saw.

For sure, they were confined to barracks Friday night by chain of command. And essentially Sat morning other than breakfast. No athletics, no training, like a normal plebe would have seen. I do recall it was a major football weekend, so that could have impacted things. Lot's of reunions on campus, etc.

Maybe that was an exception for that CVW, or just one company's approach. Also, what you can do with 1-2 overnight drags would be very difficult with 10x that number (or more, I want to say there were over 100 drags at CVW?)

In any visit you are not going to be able to 100% duplicate the cadet experience. At USMA, plebe's with drags were excused from drill on DS's visit. DS went prepared for athletics, but depending on the type of team the plebe is in you may or may not be able to participate. So at best they will be exposure and both USMA & CVW provides that.
 
Hawk, not sure when your DS had his CVW. My plebe son recently had a drag in October (not sure which weekend), and I know his drag participated in morning PT, classes, sports, etc.
 
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