Candidate Visit Weekend 2018

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acebabe

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Mar 28, 2018
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Hello all,

I’ve tried searching through the forum, but couldn’t find anything on this year’s CVW. Has anyone received their invite? If so, have you received confirmation after you filled out your interest form & what days did y’all submit your interest form for?
 
From the USNA.edu website:

Candidate Visit Weekend (CVW) is a program conducted aboard USNA during the Fall and Spring academic semesters to expose candidates to all facets of life as a Midshipmen.
CVW is an opportunity to sample university-level academics at USNA, to discover whether the Naval Academy will help you achieve your goals, and to offer valuable insight into the admissions process.
CVW is offered by invitation only throughout the academic year. Invitations are largely based on the level of completion of your application.

If you received this invite, then they probably gave you the option of selecting one of two (maybe three?) "weekends". I'm putting "Weekends" in quotes, because they typically go from 1700 Thursday through 0900 Saturday. It's not so much a "weekend" as a ;

1. Get-Acquainted Thursday night thing with an informative movie and meeting the 4/C MIDN who has signed up to have you as a "drag".
2. Spending the night in the room with your assigned MIDN either on the floor or in a cot.
3. Spending all day Friday following your MIDN around to PEP, classes, sports, more classes, and having three squares in King Hall.
4. Spending the night in the room with your assigned MIDN either on the floor or in a cot.
5. Having breakfast and here's-your-hat-what's-your-hurry get the heck out of here, kid!

They typically get back to you pretty quickly after you respond to their invite, with a "you're all set, see you then!" confirmation EMail. Later, as the weekend gets closer, there will be other EMails to tell you when to plan to be there and when to plan to leave (especially important if you're flying there and back). When arranging aircraft flights, you can fly into BWI (Baltimore–Washington International Airport) or DCA (Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport), with BWI being the closest when it comes to ground transportation.

Depending upon the time of day, it can take over an hour to get to USNA from Washington DC (about 44 miles West of Annapolis), but only about 30 or 40 minutes from Baltimore (about 24 miles Northwest of Annapolis).

The reason I mention DCA is because depending upon where you're coming from, it could be cheaper or faster to get there instead of BWI. The ground transportation takes longer and costs more, so that would be something you need to factor into your travel time to and from USNA.

There are a number of ways to get back and forth. SuperShuttle is a good service. Taxi, of course. Uber or Lyft are options too.

Also keep in mind that depending on the date you select, you may be in school. This should be an excused absence (Thursday and Friday) because it should qualify as a "College Visit". Check with your High School attendance office if that's the case.

Have fun!
 
THParent said:
From the USNA.edu website:

Candidate Visit Weekend (CVW) is a program conducted aboard USNA during the Fall and Spring academic semesters to expose candidates to all facets of life as a Midshipmen.
CVW is an opportunity to sample university-level academics at USNA, to discover whether the Naval Academy will help you achieve your goals, and to offer valuable insight into the admissions process.
CVW is offered by invitation only throughout the academic year. Invitations are largely based on the level of completion of your application.

If you received this invite, then they probably gave you the option of selecting one of two (maybe three?) "weekends". I'm putting "Weekends" in quotes, because they typically go from 1700 Thursday through 0900 Saturday. It's not so much a "weekend" as a ;

1. Get-Acquainted Thursday night thing with an informative movie and meeting the 4/C MIDN who has signed up to have you as a "drag".
2. Spending the night in the room with your assigned MIDN either on the floor or in a cot.
3. Spending all day Friday following your MIDN around to PEP, classes, sports, more classes, and having three squares in King Hall.
4. Spending the night in the room with your assigned MIDN either on the floor or in a cot.
5. Having breakfast and here's-your-hat-what's-your-hurry get the heck out of here, kid!

They typically get back to you pretty quickly after you respond to their invite, with a "you're all set, see you then!" confirmation EMail. Later, as the weekend gets closer, there will be other EMails to tell you when to plan to be there and when to plan to leave (especially important if you're flying there and back). When arranging aircraft flights, you can fly into BWI (Baltimore–Washington International Airport) or DCA (Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport), with BWI being the closest when it comes to ground transportation.

Depending upon the time of day, it can take over an hour to get to USNA from Washington DC (about 44 miles West of Annapolis), but only about 30 or 40 minutes from Baltimore (about 24 miles Northwest of Annapolis).

The reason I mention DCA is because depending upon where you're coming from, it could be cheaper or faster to get there instead of BWI. The ground transportation takes longer and costs more, so that would be something you need to factor into your travel time to and from USNA.

There are a number of ways to get back and forth. SuperShuttle is a good service. Taxi, of course. Uber or Lyft are options too.

Also keep in mind that depending on the date you select, you may be in school. This should be an excused absence (Thursday and Friday) because it should qualify as a "College Visit". Check with your High School attendance office if that's the case.

Have fun!
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for the insight into the schedule, and definitely for the alternate airport! It will be two weeks on the 27th since I sent my interest form. It says to contact them after it’s been two weeks if I still haven’t received the confirmation.

I am actually a college re-applicant, and have already given my professors the dates that I would be gone, so I’ve already got that squared away!

Thanks again!
 
I have not heard anything yet and I sent in my interest form 30 minutes after they sent the email to me. Anybody else? I received my invitation on the 15th.
 
Last edited:
That is a good question.
They send out CVW invites to strong candidates who have at least 50% of their application completed.
If you don't get an invite, you should not assume that you're not a strong candidate. It may have something to do with the data that they have on you at the time. My guess (and that's all it is) is that they give out a "few hundred" CVW invites to the 10,000+ candidate pool, so they have to cut the number off somewhere. So please don't take it as a kick in the teeth that you didn't get one.

While the number of invitations given out each year is not published or known by those outside the Admissions Voodoo Machine, it is an indication to you as a Candidate that USNA has seen your application and is interested in having you visit, in order to either cement in your mind that "this is the place for me!" or have you decide "No way, this is not what I was expecting!".

The CVW is also a more representative exposure to everyday life as a 4/C Midshipman (Plebe) than say, a normal visit or a week at NASS could ever be. If you are invited - you should make every effort to go - but don't feel obligated to go if it doesn't fit within your schedule. Not accepting the invitation will not impact your application or your "strength" as a candidate, whatsoever.

With that said, my DS went to a CVW last Fall (I believe it was in September) and he had to miss a Cross Country meet that Saturday, since he was on a plane returning during the start of the meet. As the team Captain, it was a difficult decision for him to not run in the meet. His coach however was very supportive and urged him to go to the Academy. What a great coach! My DS had made up his mind that he wanted to be a Midshipman around four (4) years prior, and said after the CVW; "Well Dad, if I had any doubts before, I don't now!"

He is a month into his Plebe year and has found no one in his company who attended NASS, but just about one out of four that he has talked to, went to a CVW.

If you got an invite, you can pat yourself on the back a little bit, but don't get too worked up about it.
There is a long road ahead to getting a nomination, and ultimately an Offer of Appointment.
That road can be 10 months long from start to finish, but a CVW is a pretty neat stop along your way.

Wow. I am wordy sometimes.
 
Thanks. DS has not received a CVW invite. I'm trying to get DS to focus a lot more on plans B and C. This info helps.
 
Mb202220 said:
...I sent in my interest form 30 minutes after they sent the email to me...
Click to expand...

Ha ha. I got this picture of an eager candidate just vibrating at the chance to go. That was my DS, last year. :D
 
CVW invites can also go to high school juniors who have not started their application.
 
Great advice from THParent, especially the anecdote that 1 in 4 attended CVW. Put another way, 3 in 4 did not. So take heart in that.

One of the toughest parts of this process is seeing what others are doing or have done, and thinking that you’ve “fallen behind” or “have no chance.” Don’t be discouraged when you hear of others getting an LOA or having attended NASS or already securing a nomination. Everyone’s case is different.

For example, my DD was invited to a reception for our MOC’s nominee slate. Though she had two nominations from the MOC, she met several others who not only had a nomination but also an appointment. She started doing the math in her head and came home terribly sad and discouraged. She thought for sure she had zero chance. But when all was said and done, she received appointments to three academies.

Moral of the story: Eyes in the boat! Focus on what you can control. And yes, work on Plan B, C and D.
 
My DD received an invite at the beginning of her jr year (before the application opened up for her). Never submitted an interest form for it. She applied to STEM in her sophomore year, but didn't get in, and the academy had her on record and sent the invitation. Maybe there were openings and they were looking for participants at the time. She is class of 2022 now.
 
I have traded PMs with the parent of a candidate in that same boat. This particular DS received a CVW invite in his junior year (last year) and is a candidate this year. He apparently got that invite right out of the blue. Hadn't even begun an application, and wondered how they knew he was interested.

Things like this start making me think that we're actually living in The Matrix. :eek:
 
USNA seems to be trending to including more and more juniors in CVWs. Most of the time they get that data from STEM applicants with promising data. Bottling line, if USNA is on your radar, a CVW is the best look at what being a Midshipmen is like day to day. If you get an offer and want to get a behind the scenes look, then go.
 
THParent said:
My DS had made up his mind that he wanted to be a Midshipman around four (4) years prior, and said after the CVW; "Well Dad, if I had any doubts before, I don't now!"
Click to expand...
Ditto that.

If you get a chance to go to CVW...GO! It will cement your decision, one way or the other.
 
I think it's totally random. DS's application is done with the exception of the math teacher eval and Dodmerb, scheduled for Monday. BGO interview done as well. Told he is a very strong candidate. No invite. Of course it's only July so no worries but just wanted to point out that I don't think it's that hugely indicative.
 
I would agree it's totally random. I attended NASS this year but my friend who has equivalent grades was turned down. Another friend has higher grades and ACT, was told she was a very strong candidate but has had no response to her CVW request.

I did love NASS and contrary to one comment above, it did in fact give a great representation of life at the academy, but I won't have any advantage from attending over someone who did not.

And please don't read too much into the comment about most current Plebes attended CVW while none attended NASS, implying it's advantageous to obtain a CVW at all cost in order to get in. I believe from past classes, there are some who attended NASS and some who attended CVW, but most didn't attend either one.
 
Wagmore said:
CVW invites can also go to high school juniors who have not started their application.
Click to expand...
My son had made no contact with USNA and somehow received a CVW invite fall of his junior year of high school. He wasn't interested - wanted to go to USAFA - but went to the CVW at my urging. He is now a 2/c at Annapolis. The CVW was the catalyst.
(BTW: he applied to NASS and didn't get in, nor did either of his roommates. But he did go to USAFA's summer seminar )

If you're a candidate who has not received a CVW invite, you can reach out to your admissions counselor. I know of many candidates who have requested a CVW and been offered one.
 
DS sent in his request form provided in original invite email on Monday. Received confirmation this afternoon around 1400CST. We have some flights to book!
 
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