BGO's and app status

[chris.nugent13]

Do BGO's have access to anything relating to a candidates application status? Would they know if it is under review, ready for review, etc...?

 

[Losttime]

Even if they do, they are not supposed to give you any of that information.

 

[1964BGO]

First of all... we recently received a reminder that we were not to be releasing "certain" information to candidates, which is one reason you may have gotten the impressions your BGO left the country. To be honest, in many respects you will know more about the communications you receive from Admissions and will receive them before we are advised. Except in unusual cases we do not get a heads up on candidate files going to the board. As often as not we are surprised that a file has gone to the Board, especially early in the fall. You have to understand, Admissions takes its responsibility very seriously and holds policies, procedures, goals, and results very closely.

 

[chiromed0]

Our DS is a 2016 Plebe. While I don't think our B&G officer knew if he got the appointment "early", I think he knew at our MOC interview (which was late) how he was ranked. In a nutshell DS could have gotten whatever he wanted that day b/c there was an inordinate number of students who just applied to 1 academy-he applied to all of them with service being his #1 priority not which academy. In this instance the attitude mattered more than aptitude.

No..I don't think they will give you a wink & nod secret info but if they tell you to be "patient and don't worry" then I'd take their word for it. We've met some of the admissions committee members who look through the many thousands & thousands of applications and yes, they actually do a very thorough job of looking at your application. Especially now with lower % of appointments and higher application numbers. We just kept looking at the Dodmerb site which did change status around the same time DS started getting notified of appointments, especially USMMA.

 

[usna1985]

BGOs do NOT know how your MOC ranked candidates unless they also happen to serve on that MOC's nominating committee. (IMO, that can create a conflict of interest but that's for another discussion). Other than that, the only way we know about a candidate's nom status is: (1) if the candidate tells us or (2) when USNA posts it on our portal.

I can't think of a single time when I knew a candidate's MOC status before he/she did.

Second, we know SOME information regarding your application. We know which of your 9-11 elements of your packet have been submitted and on what date. We do NOT know when your record will go to the Admissions Board (unless we call and ask). Given that there are ~3500 BGOs and thousands of candidates, it would create chaos if we called and asked about every one, or even most. So the overwhelming majority of us do not call about candidates unless we have a specific question or issue. By way of example, I've called/written about candidates no more than 5 total times in 14 years - and never to ask when the record will go before the board.

Your BGO is there to help you and has some very limited info about you so that we aren't operating totally in the dark. However, he/she is not some Wizard of Oz who knows everything but won't divulge it.

 

[newtoallthis]

reminder to thank them!

Just a reminder to thank them when you do get the news. They are volunteers and do take an interest/pride in your success!