Christcorp
15-Year Member
- Joined
- May 21, 2008
- Messages
- 5,383
Definitely remember that of the 10,000 (give or take) that put in an initial online app to the academy (Prospects); and of the 6,000 +/- remaining that are considered somewhat having a chance (Applicant); and of the 3,000 +/- remaining yet who are considered competitive and/or received a nomination (Candidate); and of the 1,700 +/- remaining who actually receive an appointment (Appointee); and of the 1,300 +/- who actually accept the appointment and go to the academy on "June 25, 2009"; not even half went to summer seminar.
Summer seminar is applied to NLT March of that year. Summer seminar is conducted in June; PRIOR to the online application being opened up. And, there are approximately only 700 slots available. Of the 10,000 prospects, most didn't even apply for summer seminar. Of those selected, it's spread out to make sure that not everyone is from 1 state like California, texas, etc... And of the 700 slots, many who go realize that the academy is not for them. I wish they could have a 1-2 hour long video with someone following a Summer seminar attendee around for the week. There's a lot of people who walk into the academy and have absolutely no idea what they've gotten into.
So anyway; to put your mind at some rest; of the 1,300-1,400 appointees that accept the appointment and come to the academy on June 25th; maybe 1/4th of them went to summer seminar. At the VERY MOST; only 1/2 could go because they only have about 700 summer seminar slots. Obviously more than half the freshmen cadets didn't go to summer seminar.
But the question always arises; "Does going to Summer Seminar give you an advantage to getting an appointment?" The answer is Yes - and - No. We are all a product of our environment. If you go to the summer seminar and it solidified your desire to go to the academy; then when you get back home you are more motivated to get the application done as soon as it's available. About a week or two later. This motivation shows up indirectly when your nominators see you contacting them in July-August with a completed application. You look more impressive because of your initiative. It will also help you in the eyes of your nominator and ALO during interviews because they see someone who went to summer seminar and STILL WANTS to go to the academy. The NO part is that it doesn't affect your final score compiled for your application. In other words, the academy itself doesn't reward points for it. Mainly because they know there's only 700 SS slots and 10,000 applying. And being they haven't seen 1 application yet at the time of selecting summer seminar, there's no way of saying if the SS attendee is a good academy match or not.
So, don't worry about SS. If you've got your LOA; or not; get that nomination. It's the "JOB INTERVIEW" of your life. Make it count. If you get the nomination, and are one of the top 2 on their list, then you've got a really good chance. Not to be discouraging, but remember, that an LOA gives you a REALLY GOOD CHANCE of an appointment because the nominators trust the academy. If the academy is willing to assure you an appointment, the nominators WON'T stand in your way. However, getting a nomination (While needed), isn't a guarantee of an appointment. If all the senators and reps put in a max list of 10 names each, (Not that they always will), but that's a total of about 5,500 nominations. Obviously, you need to be the top 1 or 2 of those lists to get the appointment. Best of luck to all of you. Mike.....
Summer seminar is applied to NLT March of that year. Summer seminar is conducted in June; PRIOR to the online application being opened up. And, there are approximately only 700 slots available. Of the 10,000 prospects, most didn't even apply for summer seminar. Of those selected, it's spread out to make sure that not everyone is from 1 state like California, texas, etc... And of the 700 slots, many who go realize that the academy is not for them. I wish they could have a 1-2 hour long video with someone following a Summer seminar attendee around for the week. There's a lot of people who walk into the academy and have absolutely no idea what they've gotten into.
So anyway; to put your mind at some rest; of the 1,300-1,400 appointees that accept the appointment and come to the academy on June 25th; maybe 1/4th of them went to summer seminar. At the VERY MOST; only 1/2 could go because they only have about 700 summer seminar slots. Obviously more than half the freshmen cadets didn't go to summer seminar.
But the question always arises; "Does going to Summer Seminar give you an advantage to getting an appointment?" The answer is Yes - and - No. We are all a product of our environment. If you go to the summer seminar and it solidified your desire to go to the academy; then when you get back home you are more motivated to get the application done as soon as it's available. About a week or two later. This motivation shows up indirectly when your nominators see you contacting them in July-August with a completed application. You look more impressive because of your initiative. It will also help you in the eyes of your nominator and ALO during interviews because they see someone who went to summer seminar and STILL WANTS to go to the academy. The NO part is that it doesn't affect your final score compiled for your application. In other words, the academy itself doesn't reward points for it. Mainly because they know there's only 700 SS slots and 10,000 applying. And being they haven't seen 1 application yet at the time of selecting summer seminar, there's no way of saying if the SS attendee is a good academy match or not.
So, don't worry about SS. If you've got your LOA; or not; get that nomination. It's the "JOB INTERVIEW" of your life. Make it count. If you get the nomination, and are one of the top 2 on their list, then you've got a really good chance. Not to be discouraging, but remember, that an LOA gives you a REALLY GOOD CHANCE of an appointment because the nominators trust the academy. If the academy is willing to assure you an appointment, the nominators WON'T stand in your way. However, getting a nomination (While needed), isn't a guarantee of an appointment. If all the senators and reps put in a max list of 10 names each, (Not that they always will), but that's a total of about 5,500 nominations. Obviously, you need to be the top 1 or 2 of those lists to get the appointment. Best of luck to all of you. Mike.....