LOR'S ASAP

DCHillin

5-Year Member
Joined
May 11, 2012
Messages
105
Hey everyone!

Currently I am serving a 1 semester term as a U.S. Senate Page, and I have spent half of my junior year at my home school, and half at the page school.
I am having trouble figuring out which Class year teachers i should ask to fill out recommendation letters for the acadamey.

-My Sophomore year teachers spent an entire year with me and know the pros and cons of me as a student and leader.

-All of my junior teachers have obnly spent about 4 months with me, and each have only seen half of what i can do.

-And i have not met my Senior year teachers yet, andi want to get my letters done preferably before school starts in the fall.

Any Help/opinions/past experiences.
Thanks.
 
Hey everyone!

Currently I am serving a 1 semester term as a U.S. Senate Page, and I have spent half of my junior year at my home school, and half at the page school.
I am having trouble figuring out which Class year teachers i should ask to fill out recommendation letters for the acadamey.

-My Sophomore year teachers spent an entire year with me and know the pros and cons of me as a student and leader.

-All of my junior teachers have obnly spent about 4 months with me, and each have only seen half of what i can do.

-And i have not met my Senior year teachers yet, andi want to get my letters done preferably before school starts in the fall.

Any Help/opinions/past experiences.
Thanks.

You cannot use a sophomore year teacher. Junior year and up. Math/ English teacher. Although your junior teachers do not know you so well, it is what you have to work with. Start by explaining to them your desire to attend a SA and what you intend on doing there. It wouldn't hurt to give them a list of accomplishments, awards, etc. to work with either.
 
You cannot use a sophomore year teacher. Junior year and up. Math/ English teacher.

From memory there can be exceptions to this. DS had some situation where he had to use a teacher from Soph year as that's when he took the junior course they needed LOR from.

Don't recall the details, just that he sorted it with admissions and it worked out.

If in doubt, ask. I know the intent is for it to be Junior level teachers, but if that's not possible they'll tell you what to do.
 
As a Field Force member, I hadn't heard that it was only Junior or up. All I was told was that it had to be an English Teacher, Math Teacher and Lab Science Teacher (Physics or Chemistry).
 
My FFR informed me that Sophomore teachers could be used for the SOEs, sounds good to me.
 
You cannot use a sophomore year teacher. Junior year and up. Math/ English teacher

Not true for West Point.
You can use a teacher that you've had 9th-12th grade.

One from a Math teacher, one from an English teacher and one from a Physics or Chemistry teacher (not Biology).

So - choose a teacher that you've had in each subject and request that they submit a SOE for you. I wouldn't wait for a Senior year teacher. Go ahead and choose from teachers you've had 9th-11th grade and ones that you think have a favorable impression of you.
 
From memory there can be exceptions to this. DS had some situation where he had to use a teacher from Soph year as that's when he took the junior course they needed LOR from.

Don't recall the details, just that he sorted it with admissions and it worked out.

If in doubt, ask. I know the intent is for it to be Junior level teachers, but if that's not possible they'll tell you what to do.


There are waivers for everything, but I had to submit a different recommendation because I had a sophomore rec. for math. However, it would'nt have been noticed if the the rec. did not state the year I was in the class. SO...... to avoid issues, make sure the rec. doesn't state what grade the student was in when the teach had him/her.
 
Not true for West Point.
You can use a teacher that you've had 9th-12th grade.

One from a Math teacher, one from an English teacher and one from a Physics or Chemistry teacher (not Biology).

So - choose a teacher that you've had in each subject and request that they submit a SOE for you. I wouldn't wait for a Senior year teacher. Go ahead and choose from teachers you've had 9th-11th grade and ones that you think have a favorable impression of you.

Was not aware that USMA allowed that. I was referring to USNA only.
 
Thanks for all the quick replies, I have already contacted west point and I am just waiting for a response:thumb:
 
LOR question

I am currently a junior in high school and am preparing to apply for the USMA class of 2018. Given that the year is almost over, I am beginning to ask teachers for letters of recommendation. I know that when applying for congressional nominations, letters are required from teachers of a particular subject. I was wondering if this were the case for USMA as well. For example, does USMA require a letter from a science teacher and english teacher, or does it not matter. Thanks so much, I appreciate your help.
 
Thanks, I ask because I've had a series of crazy english and math teachers. I did have a lovely spanish and history teacher that told me they would be more than happy to write an LOR for me. Do you know if it would be possible for these teachers to submit LOR's as well?
 
I couldn't tell you, I'm also applying for 2018 and I'm not exactly sure about the entire process yet.
 
I have one more question maybe you can answer. Are the LOR's written or do the teachers just fill out a brief evaluation form? Thanks again.
 
I believe they have both, that's how my nomination LORs are. Then again, I haven't seen them so if somebody who actually knew could step in it would be great.
 
There is a difference between a LOR and a SOE (School Official Evaluation). The SOEs are required on the WP application. A LOR is not.

The WP application requires 3 SOEs. One each from an English teacher, a Math teacher and a Physics OR Chemistry (NOT Biology) teacher that you've had in high school.
The SOE is part of the Leadership evaluation so it is not all about academics.
A SOE is not what you think of as a typical recommendation. After you submit the names of the teachers that you would like a SOE from, WP will send them an email that will have a list of about 12 questions that they answer on a 1-5 scale. At the end, they can write a few words in a text box.

For your noms, you will need the typical, 'I personally know this candidate', LOR.

You are correct in that you need to be thinking now about who you would like your SOEs from. Tell them before school is out and ask for an email that they check regularly in the summer and submit that email with the info that you give WP about these teachers.
All of this will be explained in the SSK insrtructions once that opens up this summer.
 
There is a difference between a LOR and a SOE (School Official Evaluation). The SOEs are required on the WP application. A LOR is not.

The WP application requires 3 SOEs. One each from an English teacher, a Math teacher and a Physics OR Chemistry (NOT Biology) teacher that you've had in high school.
The SOE is part of the Leadership evaluation so it is not all about academics.
A SOE is not what you think of as a typical recommendation. After you submit the names of the teachers that you would like a SOE from, WP will send them an email that will have a list of about 12 questions that they answer on a 1-5 scale. At the end, they can write a few words in a text box.

For your noms, you will need the typical, 'I personally know this candidate', LOR.

You are correct in that you need to be thinking now about who you would like your SOEs from. Tell them before school is out and ask for an email that they check regularly in the summer and submit that email with the info that you give WP about these teachers.
All of this will be explained in the SSK insrtructions once that opens up this summer.

Thank you for that information, you have cleared up a lot of things for me:thumb:
 
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