My son got his LOA today in the most unusual way.
This has been an interesting week for my son. On Thursday, he received a letter from the admissions office that his application had been reviewed and he was found fully qualified. At the time, not knowing what the wording was for an LOA, we were all pretty excited for a little bit, until a quick search of the forums indicated that this letter was not an LOA at all. Let's just say that my son's euphoria was quickly extinguished, and he wasn't too happy wioth me. I think the clouds over his head contributed to the foul weather that commenced on Friday.
To prepare for my son's MOC interview today, he had a few mock interviews earlier this week with two retired Air Force officers - one a reservist, the other a USAFA grad. They really posed some good and tough questions , but they helped reinforce his confidence and commitment.
Today was a dark and stormy day in the Pacific Northwest. His day was quite full - SATs in the morning, a quick change of clothes afterward to prepare for his MOC panel's interview, a trip to the soccer field to cheer his school's varsity girls' soccer team at their league playoff game, and to be followed by a get-together afterwards with his varsity soccer team mates - their playoff game in on Tuesday. To put it mildly, a lot of things were on his mind today!
After the SAT, during the drive down to the MOC office, my son learned that the afternoon's soccer game had been canceled due to the stormy weather and chance for lightning. This rippled thru to cancel the get-together for the boys' team afterwards.
So my son wondered what else might disrupt his plans.
After parking, we found ourselves with another family whose daughter was also on the way to her MOC nomination interview. We found our way to the office after a few wrong directions (my fault) - the court house building was closed, and I misinterpreted the directions to the employee entrance where the office administrator would let us in.
After finding our way to the office and drying off, my son waited his turn. We knew that his MALO contact was one of the nomination board members, but did not know what else to expect.
My son read the paper while awaiting his turn; he recalled how there might be a question on current events. It didn't take too long, as one candidate left while we waited, and then the other candidate went in for hers.
Finally, it was my son't turn.
After about 15 minutes my son exited, beaming.
He told us that after the greeting and introductions, his MALO advisor said that he had some news for him in addition to the "fully qualified" letter he had received earlier in the week. So the interview started off with my son being informed that he now had an LOA! Instead of being questioned, the nomination board asked him what questions he might have and how he felt about the LOA. They also complimented him for completing his file quickly.
He's academically qualified; he has passed DoDMERB and the CFA. He has his LOA in hand - though verbally. That is the surprise for us, as my reading of the forums here had not indicated that this was a possibility.
We're encouraged, and need a few last steps to be completed - a hard copy of that LOA, and finally a nomination. We're hoping that his hard work overall will make this last part come to a conclusion soon.
I wanted to share this story with you to let you know how happy we are, and our surprise at the method used to communicate the LOA.
This has been an interesting week for my son. On Thursday, he received a letter from the admissions office that his application had been reviewed and he was found fully qualified. At the time, not knowing what the wording was for an LOA, we were all pretty excited for a little bit, until a quick search of the forums indicated that this letter was not an LOA at all. Let's just say that my son's euphoria was quickly extinguished, and he wasn't too happy wioth me. I think the clouds over his head contributed to the foul weather that commenced on Friday.
To prepare for my son's MOC interview today, he had a few mock interviews earlier this week with two retired Air Force officers - one a reservist, the other a USAFA grad. They really posed some good and tough questions , but they helped reinforce his confidence and commitment.
Today was a dark and stormy day in the Pacific Northwest. His day was quite full - SATs in the morning, a quick change of clothes afterward to prepare for his MOC panel's interview, a trip to the soccer field to cheer his school's varsity girls' soccer team at their league playoff game, and to be followed by a get-together afterwards with his varsity soccer team mates - their playoff game in on Tuesday. To put it mildly, a lot of things were on his mind today!
After the SAT, during the drive down to the MOC office, my son learned that the afternoon's soccer game had been canceled due to the stormy weather and chance for lightning. This rippled thru to cancel the get-together for the boys' team afterwards.
So my son wondered what else might disrupt his plans.
After parking, we found ourselves with another family whose daughter was also on the way to her MOC nomination interview. We found our way to the office after a few wrong directions (my fault) - the court house building was closed, and I misinterpreted the directions to the employee entrance where the office administrator would let us in.
After finding our way to the office and drying off, my son waited his turn. We knew that his MALO contact was one of the nomination board members, but did not know what else to expect.
My son read the paper while awaiting his turn; he recalled how there might be a question on current events. It didn't take too long, as one candidate left while we waited, and then the other candidate went in for hers.
Finally, it was my son't turn.
After about 15 minutes my son exited, beaming.
He told us that after the greeting and introductions, his MALO advisor said that he had some news for him in addition to the "fully qualified" letter he had received earlier in the week. So the interview started off with my son being informed that he now had an LOA! Instead of being questioned, the nomination board asked him what questions he might have and how he felt about the LOA. They also complimented him for completing his file quickly.
He's academically qualified; he has passed DoDMERB and the CFA. He has his LOA in hand - though verbally. That is the surprise for us, as my reading of the forums here had not indicated that this was a possibility.
We're encouraged, and need a few last steps to be completed - a hard copy of that LOA, and finally a nomination. We're hoping that his hard work overall will make this last part come to a conclusion soon.
I wanted to share this story with you to let you know how happy we are, and our surprise at the method used to communicate the LOA.
).
Nice way to make a rainy day brighten up!