Admissions Board

freshavocado

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Mar 9, 2018
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When does the Admissions Committee begin to meet and offer LOAs and appointments? What are the typical qualifications of someone who receives a LOA?
 
Uh oh.

You asked the LOA question. If you’ve searched LOA in this forum you should know what’ll happen next.

Better take cover because direct and indirect fire will be heading in your direction.

Just kidding...

Again, many posts about LOAs and the thesis is basically the same:

- the goal is an appointment, not a LOA

- no one on this forum knows the criteria for an LOA and it’s probably more secret than the secret clubs at Yale

- LOAs are so small in number that no one can reasonably expect one with any amount of certainty

- forget the LOA... just do your best in every aspect of the admission requirements (ACT/SAT, grades, essays, CFA, etc) and put your best application forward
 
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Excellent advice above.

The LOA is a tool in the tool kit available for use at any time a SA wishes to use it, early or late in the Admissions cycle, for whatever reason. It could be the candidate who has a resume out in the stratosphere, the candidate with a personal story so compelling the SA knows they want a person like that in their class, a candidate with some other trait/ability/aspect of their application the SA knows they want to let that person know they are essentially saving a seat for them. The LOA recipients are - typically - representative of the spectrum of candidates desired to build out a class.

And when you start seeing the Class of 2023 appointment thread (not yet started here, I think) start to populate with posters who indicate they have an LOA, remember you are seeing just a sliver of the entire class. Find the Class of 2022 appointment thread, look over it, but remember the sample size may be misleading, statistically.
 
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To solely answer your question, myself and one other person I know received LOA’s dated August 6th.
 
To solely answer your question, myself and one other person I know received LOA’s dated August 6th.

Congrats!! I have just received notification of my LOA too. Hopefully all goes well and we will be classmates come July!

Only a couple hurdles left in the admissions process. I'm certainly humbled.
 
Can of worms indeed! Folks, read the many threads here about LOAs. Then stop obsessing about them. Otherwise you are completely missing the point.

The goal is to secure an offer of appointment. Until then — and not a moment before, LOA or not — nothing is guaranteed. Carry on.
 
Freshavocado
Capt MJ

Capt MJ is right.

My DS had his first conversation about a LOA with his RC from West Point back at the beginning of the year during academy night. I remember my DS asking a lot of questions during the Q&A section, at the end the RC asked him if he could stay and they had a long conversation.

Throughout the following months both his RC and his FFR kept following up regularly with him.

In June, while he was at NASS, he received an email that he needed to send his six semester transcripts because he was being considered for a letter of Assurance.

I posted it in the USNA forum, as I am in love with Annapolis....and I remember THEparent even saying that the email had grammatical errors. I didn’t pay much attention.

My DS just wanted an appointment for any of the three academies. His top choices Navy and Army. DS wanted to be a commissioned officer before even knowing about the academies existence. Therefore, he will be grateful and honor if he receives an appointment to any.

USNA has promised a possible LOA within the next two weeks. He had a meeting with his Field Admissions Officer this week, who was extremely candid with him and gave him a lot of good advice.

One last thought, a LOA does not mean an appointment and in order to get an appointment you will need a nomination therefore, in my DS case nothing is for sure. Our senators coordinate so if he gets a nomination from either senator would be to one academy “if he gets one” as we are from a competitive state with a lot of great candidates. Additionally, we just find out that our congressman uses the “Principal Nominee approach” I guess what I am trying to say is that the goal is first the nomination and then an appointment.
 
Can of worms indeed! Folks, read the many threads here about LOAs. Then stop obsessing about them. Otherwise you are completely missing the point.

The goal is to secure an offer of appointment. Until then — and not a moment before, LOA or not — nothing is guaranteed. Carry on.
Too add to MidCakePa's comment.... even with an LOA nothing is guaranteed. Medical DQs happen, LOA recipients fail to get the needed nomination every year, injuries occur, etc, etc. Everyone should ignore the fact that there even are LOAs.... especially if they don't walk on water.
 
Kinnem hit hit the nail on the head. Even with a LOA and an appointment nothing is guaranteed. We make plans and God laughs.... make sure you have a plan B. My DD received her LOA last August for the USMA class of 2022. She received her BFE and appointment in the beginning of January. Unfortunately, 7 weeks prior to R day she tore her ACL and was unable to report. She now has a LOA for the class of 2023. Because we were sure USMA was a sure thing, we did not put a deposit on any other schools, making it more stressful, since we were past the May 1st deadline, to get her enrolled to take classes this Fall. Luckily she is recouping well, going to PT and hitting the gym daily. She’s enrolled in classes and is keeping her dream alive and looking forward to becoming a member of USMA class of 2023.

Good luck to all of the prospective candidates. You should be proud of yourselves for working hard and wanting to make a difference!
 
When 2021 son was applying to USMA, he was never concerned about a LOA and remained positive through a huge hurdle of a surgery in August and the subsequent waiver process. I saw LOA’s posted and worried he was being looked over. Son had a near perfect ACT, tons of varsity sports with state awards and leadership out of the wazoo. The LOA would have given him breathing room as USMA was his number one choice. He never worried and kept his eye on the appointment goal. He received his appointment BEFORE many people who had received a LOA. My 2023 candidate is keeping focused on the appointment goal and working to achieve that goal everyday. It is all anyone can do.
 
The one benefit of an LOA I have seen in our district is that one of the MOCs does a Principal Nomination and has historically awarded that Principal designation to a candidate with an LOA. However, it could also be that the candidate with the LOA has historically also been the slate winner by virtue of test scores, grades/class rank, athletics, extracurriculars, etc.
 
The one benefit of an LOA I have seen in our district is that one of the MOCs does a Principal Nomination and has historically awarded that Principal designation to a candidate with an LOA. However, it could also be that the candidate with the LOA has historically also been the slate winner by virtue of test scores, grades/class rank, athletics, extracurriculars, etc.

If the MOC is in fact giving a P-Nom to a LOA candidate, then that MOC just wasted his slot. A person with a LOA only needs a nom. They do not need to be the #1 on the slate. They can be the #10 on the slate. They only need to be on the slate.
In this type of situation, if a MOC is smart, they will do a Principal with competing alternates slate.

For example - MOC has 2 candidates with LOAs and another excellent candidate that doesn't have a LOA. He should give the P-nom to the excellent non-LOA candidate and then put the other 2 LOA candidates on the slate with other noms, unranked (competing - meaning they are ranked by WP by WCS). It doesn't matter if another candidate has a higher WCS than the 2 LOA's. The 2 LOAs will get an appointment regardless of where they are on the slate, as long as they are on the slate.
In this example, the MOC would have 3 candidates guaranteed of an appointment - the 2 LOAs and the P-nom. If MOC had given the P-nom to one of the LOAs, then they only have 2 guaranteed of an appointment.
 
USNA has promised a possible LOA within the next two weeks. He had a meeting with his Field Admissions Officer this week, who was extremely candid with him and gave him a lot of good advice.
"Promised a possible LOA " -- what does that mean ? You either have an LOI, or you don't. BTW, USNA does not have Field Admissions Officers..

If the MOC is in fact giving a P-Nom to a LOA candidate, then that MOC just wasted his slot. A person with a LOA only needs a nom. They do not need to be the #1 on the slate. They can be the #10 on the slate. They only need to be on the slate.
> Right, and wrong. You are correct, that LOA candidate only needs a NOM, and doesn't matter if he/she is #1 or #10, but unless the MOC has room for more than one persons that year (each MOC can have 5 people at each Service Academy during a given year), the person who "wins the slate" can't get in if the appointment goes to the person with the LOA. (I don't know specifics at USMA, but there probably other ways to get that slate winneer in, including VP or Supe nominations).
 
"Promised a possible LOA " -- what does that mean ? You either have an LOI, or you don't. BTW, USNA does not have Field Admissions Officers..
I took it to mean he was verbally told they were considering an LOA but would not issue it until the CFA was complete. Seems odd to me too but stranger things have happened.
 
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