Congressional nomination received but really wants USCGA

pedromom

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My D/S just received a congressional nomination to USMA from a very competitive district however USCGA is first choice, but they don’t seem to be showing as much love/interest as USMA....just wondering if student should be reaching out more to USCGA admissions or if it is a DONT Call us we’ll call you kind of thing? My background is sales so I always err on the side of reaching out but I’m new to this whole process.
 
Congrats on the Nom. Your son should reach out to his RC at CGA. They like hearing from the candidate with genuine interest in the Academy. If not done already in his essays, I would write something that your son is clearly drawn to the service which has very different mission from other services. Your son if CGA is his first choice should be applying via Early Action with May 1 response deadline, especially if he’s a competitive candidate. CGA selects candidates based on national competition although they try to have good regional representation nationally.

We’ve learned that CGA WCS Criteria is more similar to West Point than Annapolis with more emphasis on evaluating quality of essays written by candidates and references written by teachers and other recommenders. They also incorporate interview result from CGA Alumna for EA candidates.
 
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What does RC mean....is that a regional person? He did try that and never received a response. I would have thought getting a nom is harder than getting someone from admissions to reply to an email....it makes me think they are either unorganized or have no interest in him, one of the two.
 
If the Regional Commander doesn’t reply back in an instant please wait for the response. Sometimes can take a week. It’s not about how important one candidate is. It’s about supply and demand of candidates now inundating admissions.
 
From what I've experienced so far, West Point has been a LOT more outgoing than USCGA, and I completed just the PCQ for USMA and the entire USCGA application. I don't think it really matters to reach out to admissions unless if you have something important to say. They probably don't enjoy getting the "U up?" email from candidates.
 
From what I've experienced so far, West Point has been a LOT more outgoing than USCGA, and I completed just the PCQ for USMA and the entire USCGA application. I don't think it really matters to reach out to admissions unless if you have something important to say. They probably don't enjoy getting the "U up?" email from candidates.
Thanks, that’s helpful To know you’ve had a similar experience.
 
Congrats on the Nom. Your son should reach out to his RC at CGA. They like hearing from the candidate with genuine interest in the Academy. If not done already in his essays, I would write something that your son is clearly drawn to the service which has very different mission from other services. Your son if CGA is his first choice should be applying via Early Action with May 1 response deadline, especially if he’s a competitive candidate. CGA selects candidates based on national competition although they try to have good regional representation nationally.

We’ve learned that CGA WCS Criteria is more similar to West Point than Annapolis with more emphasis on evaluating quality of essays written by candidates and references written by teachers and other recommenders. They also incorporate interview result from CGA Alumna for EA candidates.

The boat for Early Action has well and truly sailed.

To the OP how much interaction has your DS had with admissions? Has he researched who is Admissions Officer is and reached out to them?
Is he an athlete and if so has he reached out to the relevant coach at the academy?

I think it is up to the candidate to make the running here. My own DS has been in regular contact with his admissions officer, he has made numerous visits to the academy, attended both AIM and Genesis, attended a football game and completed an admissions talk and campus tour, called in the the academy when we were in the vicinity to talk to his admissions officer and football coach. He has also met his recruiting partner and visited the Eagle when it was close to us.

He has to do his best to ensure USCGA know he is serious in his interest. Hope this helps.
 
That sounds bit too much of an interaction. But all things in moderation to communicate your interest will go a long way. If they want you they will make it clearly known in due time.
 
As with any military branch, “hurry up and wait” is the norm. One of the mottos for CGA is Semper Paratus (always ready), but all of the cadet parents translate this to be Semper Gumby (always flexible).
 
We hear OPs side of the story, but what exactly is your DS asking admissions? Is there a response required? My DD communicated periodically, but did not expect a response each time - she'd update with anything significant or noteworthy, such as I finished my app! (09/01) - response here, Good work HCopter mini-me! Then, I got into Genesis! (around the same time; no response), then See you at Genesis in a week and I made NMCommended! (no response). She did speak with AO a bit at Genesis. Then, here are my improved PFE scores and thank you for Genesis! (11/06 ish) (confirmation from administrator of PFE update, no response from AO). I'm sure she got the memos, and that was enough. She and DD don't need to be pen pals, and the goal is to get an appointment. Your package speaks loudest, not email rapport.

For every moment your admissions officer (the one at USCGA) spends on emails, she is NOT physically before the CCEB championing your application, or any of the 900 EAs that they are slogging through right now.
 
I think it is best to never read into the communications you receive from the service academies. My son got all kinds of communication from the USCGA during his first attempt to get in. We were surprised when he did not get in. On the second attempt it was crickets and he was accepted in February under Regular Action, which is relatively early in the acceptance process. Point is that sometimes the one in charge of your file can be more communicative than the person in charge of other files. Another thing you will find out is that USMA which is funded by DoD tends to have more resources as opposed to USCGA which is funded by DHS and has less resources. This difference in resources can trickle down even to academy admissions.
 
That sounds bit too much of an interaction. But all things in moderation to communicate your interest will go a long way. If they want you they will make it clearly known in due time.
This was over the course of two years.
 
I think the other point here is one of timing. Most interactions with AOs need to happen outside of the admissions cycle. At this time they are simply too busy to be bothered with all but the most urgent of emails. However, outside of the admissions cycle I think it is important that future cadets try to build some sort of relationship with their AO.
 
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