Bad news good news - Confused as hell but moving on...

A

April75

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I do much reading and not so much posting, but here we go... DD received an LOA from the USNA back in August. Status: Obtain a nomination. Today, DD received two letters. One from a Senator, the other from our Congressman. Bad news from Senator: You were not selected for an interview because of the unusually large number of qualified candidates..... Good news from the Congressman: You will receive an interview with our Academy Review Board (Nov 12 @ 9:40 am).

Obviously this is my first time as a father of a candidate. In my mind, an LOA means you're somewhat or just a little qualified, maybe. Anyhow, DD has moved on and is preparing herself for the MOC interview this coming Saturday. Please feel free to shed lights to let me know what the Senator's committee is thinking or looking at. Also, per DD's BGO recommendation to contact the congressional offices to inform them that you have an LOA, which she did weeks ago. Thank you for your input.
 
April75 said:
I do much reading and not so much posting, but here we go... DD received an LOA from the USNA back in August. Status: Obtain a nomination. Today, DD received two letters. One from a Senator, the other from our Congressman. Bad news from Senator: You were not selected for an interview because of the unusually large number of qualified candidates..... Good news from the Congressman: You will receive an interview with our Academy Review Board (Nov 12 @ 9:40 am).

Obviously this is my first time as a father of a candidate. In my mind, an LOA means you're somewhat or just a little qualified, maybe. Anyhow, DD has moved on and is preparing herself for the MOC interview this coming Saturday. Please feel free to shed lights to let me know what the Senator's committee is thinking or looking at. Also, per DD's BGO recommendation to contact the congressional offices to inform them that you have an LOA, which she did weeks ago. Thank you for your input.
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At this point, I would just try to put it behind you, and move on as your daughter has. With an LOA, she only needs one nomination and it doesn't matter where it comes from. Most candidate's best chance of getting their nomination is from their congressman, where there is less competition. Depending upon your state, there can be extreme competition on the state level and the Senator's committee may have their own ranking system to determine how to limit the number of candidates they will interview. Their view of the competitiveness of a candidate can be different than what that Academy is looking at for admissions. They can have their own point system that they give for test scores, class rank, leadership points, etc. and they may care less about the class composition, or other less obvious factors, especially those that may be more intangible, that make a candidate a compelling candidate. Obviously your daughter is qualified, otherwise the Academy would not have offered her a LOA. Academies do use LOAs to help fill out their class with the demographics of the highly qualified candidates that are harder to fill in their classes. When they see an outstanding female candidate, they want to snap her up before the other Academies do and they will offer a LOA. They are aggressively recruiting female candidates. At this point, just tell her to go knock it out of the park with her interview this weekend and get that nomination!
 
Agree with above. At the Senate level you could be competing with 100s of other applicants in some states. In a state like CA, TX, VA, NJ (this is just a sample) there could be 20+ LOAs. These states cannot interview every candidate who applies. Every MOC has their own selection criteria as mentioned. Focus on the interview she has and knock it out of the park.
 
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Thank you both, USMAROTCFamily and Navyhoops, for your time and expertise. [emoji3]
 
Academies do use LOAs to help fill out their class with the demographics of the highly qualified candidates that are harder to fill in their classes. When they see an outstanding female candidate, they want to snap her up before the other Academies do and they will offer a LOA.They are aggressively recruiting female candidates.
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What is your basis for these statements? I've never heard any of this.

The others are right re the OP's question. Our Senators get over 600 applications for 10 spots. There could be terrific candidates with LOAs who just don't make that cut. Also, Senators need to balance their appointments across the state from a geographical standpoint. Thus, if you happen to live in an area of your state with lots of great candidates, it can be a numbers game. This isn't as much the case with Reps, b/c they typically cover a much smaller area.
 
April75 said:
Good news from the Congressman: You will receive an interview with our Academy Review Board (Nov 12 @ 9:40 am)..
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LOA makes it easier for selection teams when recommending who gets a Nomination.

1.) First off, DO NOT Worry ! Depending on the State, many Senators (like PA) have between 400-800 requests for Nominations.

2.) By Email, TODAY have her send a scanned copy of the LOA to the Congressional Service Academy Coordinator that heads Nominations for the Congressman and request that the LOA be added to her file. That Staff person is very important and is usually the one in charge of arranging/preparing each candidate file for review by the people on the Nomination Interview Committee.

3.) If she can't email it, make sure she that when she checks in, she tells the staff she has been given an LOA and have a copy with her. At check-in, in many cases (for Congressman/woman) the head staff member who is the Service Academy Coordinator for the District's SA Nominations is the person who greets the interviewee.

4.) Almost all Nomination Interview Committees will ask the candidate "if they are being recruited by USNA" for a sport. She needs to say when interviewed that 'she is being recruited by the USNA for Academics' The Nomination Interview Committee want to KNOW this information !
 
murfthesurf said:
LOA makes it easier for selection teams when recommending who gets a Nomination.

1.) First off, DO NOT Worry ! Depending on the State, many Senators (like PA) have between 400-800 requests for Nominations.

2.) By Email, TODAY have her send a scanned copy of the LOA to the Congressional Service Academy Coordinator that heads Nominations for the Congressman and request that the LOA be added to her file. That Staff person is very important and is usually the one in charge of arranging/preparing each candidate file for review by the people on the Nomination Interview Committee.

3.) If she can't email it, make sure she that when she checks in, she tells the staff she has been given an LOA and have a copy with her. At check-in, in many cases (for Congressman/woman) the head staff member who is the Service Academy Coordinator for the District's SA Nominations is the person who greets the interviewee.

4.) Almost all Nomination Interview Committees will ask the candidate "if they are being recruited by USNA" for a sport. She needs to say when interviewed that 'she is being recruited by the USNA for Academics' The Nomination Interview Committee want to KNOW this information !
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Thank you, murfthesurf. Much appreciation.
 
April75 said:
I do much reading and not so much posting, but here we go... DD received an LOA from the USNA back in August. Status: Obtain a nomination. Today, DD received two letters. One from a Senator, the other from our Congressman. Bad news from Senator: You were not selected for an interview because of the unusually large number of qualified candidates..... Good news from the Congressman: You will receive an interview with our Academy Review Board (Nov 12 @ 9:40 am).

Obviously this is my first time as a father of a candidate. In my mind, an LOA means you're somewhat or just a little qualified, maybe. Anyhow, DD has moved on and is preparing herself for the MOC interview this coming Saturday. Please feel free to shed lights to let me know what the Senator's committee is thinking or looking at. Also, per DD's BGO recommendation to contact the congressional offices to inform them that you have an LOA, which she did weeks ago. Thank you for your input.
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It could also be very likely that your congressman and senators coordinate their nomination efforts and do not duplicate noms. Therefore, your congressman will be aware of your LOA. The MOCS want to nominate people who are going to get in. With an LOA, they know you are desired. Don't sweat it. Have DD knock it out of the park for her congressman and she will be fine in my opinion.
 
usna1985 said:
What is your basis for these statements? I've never heard any of this.
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There is plenty of information to support USMAROTCFamily's statement about LOA's. LOA's are used to attract the most qualified candidates in their respective pools. I haven't looked closely at USNA, but can reasonably assume the process regarding recruitment goals is similar to USMA.

USMA actively tracks data of specific groups for which recruiting goals are set: athletes, minorities, females, enlisted personnel. The qualifications required for an LOA within each targeted group will vary depending on the competitiveness of candidates in that group. Included in the data are the numbers of each group that fall below a specific score (ie those that are minimally qualified), indicating that the number of highly qualified candidates in these groups is less than in the population of candidates outside these groups. Thus the need to set goals and adjust cutoff scores.
 
Also I know that in my state (VA) the congressmen and senators will converse with each other to make sure that they both don't nominate the same person because it is so competitive. Each person only receives one nomination so I assume they probably think that she will get a congressman nomination .
 
Thank you all for your replies. I have learned much. I'll go back to reading. :)
 
jl123 said:
There is plenty of information to support USMAROTCFamily's statement about LOA's. LOA's are used to attract the most qualified candidates in their respective pools. I haven't looked closely at USNA, but can reasonably assume the process regarding recruitment goals is similar to USMA.

USMA actively tracks data of specific groups for which recruiting goals are set: athletes, minorities, females, enlisted personnel. The qualifications required for an LOA within each targeted group will vary depending on the competitiveness of candidates in that group. Included in the data are the numbers of each group that fall below a specific score (ie those that are minimally qualified), indicating that the number of highly qualified candidates in these groups is less than in the population of candidates outside these groups. Thus the need to set goals and adjust cutoff scores.
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With all due respect, this is the USNA forum. The fact that USMA or USAFA does something in admissions has zero bearing (unless it's written in the law) on what USNA does. There are MANY differences among the three service academies in terms of the admissions process. For example, at least last year, USMA seemed to send out appointments in blocs on certain days. USNA does not do that. USMA has historically (not sure about this year) sent out more LOAs and sent them out earlier than USNA.

USNA offers LOAs. Beyond that, there is nothing in your statement that I have ever heard applying to USNA. USNA doesn't "actively recruit" women -- although more women today apply than say a decade ago b/c there is more interest in USNA among women. I've not heard about them carving up LOAs by demographics-- that is not what they state publicly at least. It is important to qualify statement about one SA when in another SA forum so as not to confuse people.
 
My 2 cents:

Your DD should have several facts about herself that she wants the interviewing committee to know. Naturally this info should be of the type that will separate her from the other candidates & leave the interviewers with a positive impression. She has to make sure that she gets these facts out during the interview. During an interview, one can become distracted/engrossed & forget to ensure that the information they want to say about themselves gets out. Practice interviews will help.
The committee may close with, "Is there anything we haven't asked that you want us to know...", sometimes not. DD should be prepared for one of the following three scenarios:
1. either get her info out during the interview, if unable/forgot then
2. wait until they ask for additional info at the end, if they don't,
3. close herself with something along the lines of "I just want to say that ..."

Good Luck!
 
usna1985 said:
I've not heard about them carving up LOAs by demographics. It is important to qualify statement about one SA when in another SA forum so as not to confuse people.
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Apologies. I thought I qualified my previous remarks appropriately, but let me correct the record - USNA is the only higher education institution in the country that is in such high demand that there is no need to set recruitment goals and track admissions results of underrepresented populations.
 
I agree that all universities, even the most competitive ones such as USMA and USNA, seek (and track) qualified members of historically underrepresented groups. How they go about that -- and especially whether and how the SAs use LOAs for that purpose -- might well vary.

Also, women aren't really considered an "underrepresented group" at USNA, where they now make up ~28% of the plebe class and just under a quarter of the brigade. They obviously have been historically underrepresented in terms of numbers at SAs compared with their percentage of the population of college applicants/students at large. However, that is largely due to two things: (1) less interest historically by women in a SA or a military career; and (2) until relatively recently, fewer career opportunities for women in the military. USNA admissions have been gender neutral since around 1993 and, since last year, all USN (and most USMC) jobs are open to women. Thus, there is no need to limit the number of women who attend nor to recruit them. The situation is generally taking care of itself.
 
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