I'm Confused!!

Ex.BT.USN

Ex.BT.USN

5-Year Member
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Jan 6, 2013
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In trying to follow my DS but yet stand off in the background I find myself confused. LOA - I know what it stands for but I'm still a little short of the full understanding.

My DS was told by his B&G (good guy) that if the admission board sends him a LOA the Senators and Congressman will be well aware of the letter and will have a copy for their own file.

Can someone please tell me the full depth of what the LOA truly means? Sounds like the LOA's are far and few to be given out. I don't think my DS would get an LOA but it would be good to understand fully in the event he does.

Thank you in advance.
 
From my understanding (someone please correct me if I'm off here), is that LOA's for USNA are given out in the Fall (Sept/Oct) to highly qualified candidates, and some recruited athletes. Some candidates that did very well at NASS may receive them.

USCGA from what I understand also gives them out in Sept, but they are strictly for highly qualified candidates that attended and did very well at AIM. Many of the kids that receive them from USCGA had a "hint" that they were coming from comments to them by their Cadre, Admissions officers, etc. Each Aimster is evaluated at AIM and some of the best are issued LOA's.

I think they are becoming more and more rare, and one shouldn't feel they are less qualified if they DONT receive one at any school. However, receiving one is a great thing. I don't think that MOC"s are automatically informed that a candidate has one, but I would think it is a great thing to bring up in the interview in a humble way.
 
It means that yes, he's technically guaranteed a spot at the academy IF he obtains a nomination and is greenlighted by Dodmerb. They are extremely rare and I *believe* are normally given out to recruited athletes.
They key is the nomination, you can't report without one regardless and it's up to the specific nomination board to determine whether or not the LOA would be factor.

Source: I was QNS with nominations to USMA and USNA c/o 2016, later became friends and acquaintances with those who would go on to the academies, and some of those had LOA's, which we discussed extensively.
 
Ahhhhh....

And that would be the Paul Harvey of it all, now I got it.

Thnak you!!
 
LOAs are usually early guarantees given to outstanding applicants that the Academy wishes to snatch up before other top schools take them.

LOAs may seem common here, and the term is thrown around all the time, but in reality maybe a handful of plebes in each company have ever seen one. And in the end, the appointment is the same blue folder everyone else gets.
 
oldest son got a LOA at the end of August last summer and is currently a plebe at plebe summer. He is an athlete but not for a recruited sport. He did bring his copy of his LOA letter when applying for his nominations. In the end it doesnt matter at all whether you got an LOA or not except for an earlier peace-of-mind otherwise all are treated the same.
 
Very few USNA applicants get LOA's.....HOWEVER, if you do get one it is a BIG deal since you are guaranteed an appointment if you get a NOM and successfully complete the balance of your application. Everyone else who is 3Q + NOM (who don't have an LOA) will NOT get appointments.
 
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time2 said:
Very few USNA applicants get LOA's.....HOWEVER, if you do get one it is a BIG deal since you are guaranteed an appointment if you get a NOM and successfully complete the balance of your application. Everyone else who is 3Q + NOM (who don't have an LOA) will NOT get appointments.
Click to expand...

Well, that last sentence certainly is NOT true even in the same congressional district other nomination source.
 
Perhaps I should have worded it differently so it is clearer.

Everyone who is 3Q and has a NOM will NOT get an appointment. (This is in reference to those who do NOT have an LOA.) Those are simply statements of facts.
 
grevar said:
From my understanding (someone please correct me if I'm off here), is that LOA's for USNA are given out in the Fall (Sept/Oct).
Click to expand...

I know a c/o 2017 Plebe from my high school who recieved his LOA in late December. Granted I don't think he finished his application until late November or very early December. But it shows you that they can be given out later.
 
time2 said:
Perhaps I should have worded it differently so it is clearer.

Everyone who is 3Q and has a NOM will NOT get an appointment. (This is in reference to those who do NOT have an LOA.) Those are simply statements of facts.
Click to expand...

Maybe you meant "Not everyone who is 3Q and NOM will get an appointment"?

Because something like four or five out of forty plebes in my company had an LOA for '16. The rest never saw one (some of them didn't even know LOAs existed).

LOAs are a good thing. They are a guarantee. However, they are very rare, and not a cause for panic if you do not receive one. The candidate with an LOA in August and the waitlister who finally heard back in early June are plebes all the same on I-Day.
 
Correct, the original question was about the benefit of an LOA and that is what I was commenting on. They DO mean something, but very few are given out.
 
I can guarantee this that no current plebe wants their detailer to know they got an Letter Of Assurance.
 
That is a different question. The person starting the topic asks about what an LOA means. That is what we have been discussing.

There are lots of other topics on the things one should NOT brag about once I-day rolls around, this would be one of those things.
 
I may be wrong but I think everyone who gets an appointment eventually gets a LOA . This is a letter basically stating IF they get clearance and a nomination they will get an appointment . Some get LOA's and don't get in because they don't pass the dodmerb or get an appointment.
 
Those are 2 different things. The LOA's given out by USNA take place EARLY in the application process, before all of the requirements have been met, to highely desired candidates as a way to encourage those who might already been accepted to another college to keep pursuing the USNA process which takes longer due to NOM's, etc.

At the END of the process, applicants can be extended an offer of appointment, which means they only have to accept the offer to be appointed.

Two different things.
 
Tell me if this is a Naval Academy LOA....

"Congratulations! We are pleased to announce that the Admissions Board has found you scholastically qualified fir admission to the U.S. Naval Academy with the Class of 2006. You are guaranteed an offer of appointment when your remaining admissions requirements have been completed."

They bolded the "guaranteed an offer of appointment."

The remaining requirements were DODMERB and a congressional nomination.

That wording is less clear than the Merchant Marine Academy's letter nine days later: "Based on the results of the academic screening and evaluation of your application, it is a pleasure to offer you a LETTER OF ASSURANCE to the Class of 2006.

Which was more clear than the Coast Guard Academy's "Congratulations, you have qualified for a Conditional Appointment to the United States Coast Guard Academy Class of 2006!"

Every letter I received was followed by the scary DODMERB letter.... until everything was finally made right.

I had/have no idea if "LOA" is spelled out at every school, but some of the language there, and all of it depended on DODMERB, while USNA and USMMA also required noms, sure reminded me of what an LOA is.

We kept every letter, recording the many ups and downs of the service academy application and acceptance process.
 
Haha, well it's old now.


Anyway, what you'll find is a roller coaster ride.... one day LOA, next day DODMERB letter saying you're disqualified, next day waiver, next day DODMERB (AGAIN!).... up and down.... so just stick it out.
 
Been there done that got the t-shirt

My DS received an LOA with the wording "guaranteed an appointment if"....in our case, he needed DODMERB approval (we already had a nomination) and of course he was DQ'ed but eventually received a waiver. We received our LOA in late December and were told by the admissions office that they had sent out less than 100. We were also told that the LOA's stop coming in Mid January because they are focusing more on getting out the appointments. If you get the DQ, don't despair. The LOA means the Academy wants you and will do everything they can to approve the waiver. If the DQ is color blindness, however, you have my condolences. Neither USNA nor USAFA will waiver for color difficiency only USMA. The final appointment came in January and my DS is finishing his Plebe summer this week. OBW my DS was not a recruited athlete and our DQ's were for asthma treatment after age 13 and bee sting allergies.

Good luck!
 
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