LOA/Appointment

skyflies2023

Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2018
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Hi, I'm new here, my application has been going well so far. As of today, I've completed everything on my portal, but my counselor has yet to send in any of the necessary information such as a transcript, school profile, etc. Is it possible to receive any notice from the academy such as LOA before this step is completed? thanks
 
I have seen some people report here that they’ve received an LOA before their transcripts were submitted. But maybe give a gentle reminder to your counselor if you can.
 
I have seen some people report here that they’ve received an LOA before their transcripts were submitted. But maybe give a gentle reminder to your counselor if you can.

Thanks for your response! I’ve been reminding my counselor relentlessly, hopefully he’ll pull through soon
 
LOAs are rare for USAFA. I would keep pushing forward with nominations and forget about the LOA issue.

Although I do not know the size of your HS, but remember many other students are asking for the same thing right now. I know for my kids at their HS they were told it would take 2 weeks to process their transcripts and school profile.
 
LOAs (Letters of Assurance) are rare. Your full file must be complete and reviewed by the Admissions Committee. Less that 10% of all candidates will receive a LOA. 90% have to wait until late March or early April to know if they have been offered.

Work on your nomination. Without this you go nowhere. Don't be annoying to your counselor. Be funny, charming, polite and "give chocolate".
 
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Seriously? It's OCTOBER. If you are badgering your counselor, that's not gonna get you very far.[/QUOTE]

USAFA has rolling deadline for completed applications. My son’s deadline is the first week of November so if his counselor hadn’t done it by now, we would be badgering for sure!
 
My DS’s counselor was slow as well, in the end he finally nagged enuff and also got his principal involved for help. Sometimes they don’t realize how important this is. They don’t know/understand what all you have to go thru for the application process. We ended up giving them small gifts after it was all said and done
 
Also, the deadline only applies to things the applicant has direct control over. Items like transcripts, ALO interview scores, and final DoDMERB results (assuming the applicant did their part as applicable) can be turned in after the applicant's given deadline because it is out of their control.
 
Oh you would be surprised at how much you sometimes need to nag. I basically had him to to the office each day and ask - and I would "happen to be in the area" and stop in once or twice a week as well. Even still it took a full month to get it all sent in. Not every school admin is "on top of things" :bang:
 
When my kids were in a state-wide cyber school, their ONE guidance counselor handled 900+ students, and we never had one issue of late forms, or not adhering to deadlines. How sad.
 
When my kids were in a state-wide cyber school, their ONE guidance counselor handled 900+ students, and we never had one issue of late forms, or not adhering to deadlines. How sad.
we're a very small school - Dept of defense school. Going to the guidance counselor for him - he said "remember the movie zootopia where she goes to the DMV desk? Yeah. That's kinda what it's like" lol
 
When my kids were in a state-wide cyber school, their ONE guidance counselor handled 900+ students, and we never had one issue of late forms, or not adhering to deadlines. How sad.

My son's class has about 500 students and 2 counselors. The only way we finally got it done was I had to send her an email. My son emailed and visited over and over and until I stepped in, nothing got done. I think that is sad because I'm over here trying to let my son do everything on his own and actually bear the responsibility, and the counselor is just shooting me in the foot with those efforts. Thankfully, we don't need anything else from her for his nominations, or applications to any school or SA. Just waiting on some teachers now and I am hoping I don't have to intervene there as well!
 
Fencer, you know I love you, but it really is different in the public school system versus the home school system.

I had to be like jrwork. I let ALL of my kids do the work, but like jrwork there were times that Mom had to be the big bad bear protecting her cub and step in. My kids were pre-warned by me, as I watched the clock count down. They knew I would stomp in, and if the GC turned to me and said they never came in, they knew there would be Hades to pay when they came home that day. My kids never paid Hades. I was also smart to always pay the transcripts in a check, thus, I knew that the school indeed had the request in hand.

Not to divert the subject, but my DD is a school teacher. I worked in the educational system. In defense of these GCs, we, as parents created the problem. Think about it. We demand more from them while we refuse to give more support (money or employees)
~As parents back in our days, we took the SAT or ACT, 2x at max. There was no superscoring or students taking it 8 + times. Very few took both the SAT and ACT. Everytime a student takes a new SAT/ACT, they have to update that file. That is a lot of work for the dept., especially since the new scores roll in right around the same time the srs are asking to send out transcripts.
~Many parents are probably @ the same age as me. In our day we did not apply to 10 colleges. It was just too expensive. Now with college app, 8,9, 10 or more is common. Some are on college app, some are not, like an SA or private. That means their dept may be inundated with transcript requests. Don't even get me started on why these kids now apply to every college, spending $$$ for each application.

Just saying.
 
OBTW, 500 students that are seniors with only 2 GCs is a big workload compared to 500 students in total for the HS. Let's all remember sometimes there needs to be specific clarification.

500 HS srs, with 2 means 250 students per GC. This is on top of their true duties on a daily basis for every student...GUIDANCE. 500 in total (9th-12th), is not the same. Just like a cyber GC aka home schooled are not dealing with the behavioral problem child and meeting their parent for an hr plus conference, that may mean they have to have more meetings with teachers and administration to resolve the situation, hours out of their day. GCs are not there just for srs to process transcripts and SAT scores. They are there to be there when there is a problem with a child, be it freshmen, sophomore, junior or senior. They are there to make sure as a freshmen that wants an SA apptmt or an Ivy league that academically they are on track. They are there in some very bad situations, where they are a liaison between CPS and the family.

Just saying, impo people want and demand schools to provide services on a champagne budget, but are only willing to pay for it with the cheapest beer budget.

FYI, as a taxpayer I love homeschoolers. private school students and Adult communities (55+). Why? Because you pay into the system and never use it. Thus, the school districts can pay for upgrades, recruit better teachers, creating specialty HS and smaller class sizes. No flaming, just illustrating how the system works, at least in NoVA.
 
Pima, I completely understand that GCs have a TON to do, especially at my son's school, which is very high-performing. I feel for those guidance counselors so I don't mind at all having it take several months to get it done. What I do mind is when I, as the parent, have to intervene in something my child is trying desperately to get done on his own. He couldn't even get a simple response saying "working on it" or anything. And this has been pretty normal throughout his entire high school career (they keep the same GC from start to finish). But I get it, they have a lot on their plates, for sure. I also don't understand these kids who apply to so many schools! My son is doing 4, including 2 SAs and 2 public universities. I think the common app helps the issue of so many applications, though, even if my son couldn't use it.
 
I have even heard that at our local PS, the guidance counselor will fill out forms for only 5 colleges per student.

OK, now here's the lesson: homeschool.

See, I can solve all the world's problems in an instant.

Deposit gratuity here: :cool:
 
I have even heard that at our local PS, the guidance counselor will fill out forms for only 5 colleges per student.

OK, now here's the lesson: homeschool.

See, I can solve all the world's problems in an instant.

Deposit gratuity here: :cool:
:biglaugh:
Look you now have a new career too!
 
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