First Letter to ALO?

nick0094

10-Year Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2009
Messages
93
I have my ALO's contact information (Thanks Flieger ;)), but I'm not sure exactly what to say to him. I think I should just introduce myself, but I thought this first impression was too important to just go into without making sure. What I'm trying to say is, what should I put in my first E-mail to my ALO?
 
A basic introduction is perfectly fine and would be a good idea. In your introduction, you can state the basics of "WHY" you want to attend the air force academy and become a commissioned officer. Mention you hobbies, likes, sports, activities, etc... that you are involved with. Ask a couple of questions which allows the ALO to "RESPOND" to your email. Questions such as; 1) Can you send me a description of the CFA so I can practice? 2) Are there any classes that you might recommend I take? 3) Can you tell me how competitive our state is when it comes to nominations?

These questions calmly gets the ALO to respond back and allows you to continue questions and maintain a dialog. You obviously don't want to overload the ALO with a lot of work when s/he is busy with a lot of 2014 applicants and ROTC applications. But maintain an open dialog. After s/he responds to your questions, reiterate how grateful you are for their help. How excited you are. How busy you KNOW THEY ARE. That you won't bother them too much. And set a date that you'll email them back again to touch bases. I.e. Mention emailing them back again at the end of September once you've really gotten settled in school and to ensure the classes you are taking are appropriate type classes. That sort of method.

Best of luck to you. And Steve (Fleiger) can definitely add more to these suggestions or correct me if I appear a bit presumptuous. The thing to remember is: The ALO is busy. It's a volunteer job. They have a "Real" job to pay their bills. And they NEED to spend most of their ALO time with the upcoming class applicants. Good Luck. Mike....
 
Dear Col Jarrell,

My name is Steve and I'm a student at Air Academy High School in the class of 19XX. It is my goal to attend the USAFA as a member of the class of 19YY.

I have been informed you are the ALO assigned to Air Academy. I wanted to take a moment of your time to both introduce myself and to pass to you my personal contact information.

(Name, Address, e-mail, phone, etc., can go here or at the bottom in the signature block)

A little bit about me. I am the captain of both the soccer and track team. I'm a member of CAP and hold the rank of C/Lt Col. I work a part-time job during the off season. In school I'm the VP of the National Honor Society and I'm also an active member of the school district debate team.

At this point I am curious about what actions I should be taking to better my chances for appointment. Any recommendations you have I would greatly appreciate.

Thank you for your consideration.

Respectfully,

Steve
Address
E-mail
Phone
*********************************************************
Pretty much what I see in e-mail's every year and it's exactly what I'd like to have from ANY student contacting me! Mike is correct; we're now starting to become busy with the 2014 applicants BUT...we will ALWAYS take your information and pass on what information we can to anyone that's "younger" than the upcoming applicants. And it's a GREAT bonus for us to have your information early; gives us something to look forward to!

PLUS...if YOU contact me, then I know that YOU are interested; not your parents. :smile:

There's no great mystery to the first contact; the KEY is that you DO IT! :thumb:

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
(yes, that's me in the letter, I didn't get into '82)
 
When Flieger sent me the contact information for my ALO, I sent him an email similar to the one shown earlier in this thread. He replied with an offer to give him a call and set up a meeting to talk about the Academy and check out the F-16s at the Base where he worked.

I thought, "Cool, that would be nice. Too bad I can't just email him, though." To me, the phone call seemed like a huge step. I waited to call, trying to build up the courage to; and I waited. It was almost a year later before I sent him an email asking if the contact information was still correct. That same day I gave him a call. It was nothing to worry about; a very casual conversation.

I felt so relieved to have finally called him. Now I no longer have to think every day, "I should really call him soon." So my advice is, send him/her an email, and if your ALO would prefer a phone call to an email, get it done as soon as you can without bothering your ALO. Like ChristCorp mentioned, it is a volunteer job, so chances are if your ALO didn't want you to succeed, they wouldn't be an ALO.

Good Luck!
 
what is the earliest time you should contact your ALO? I'm just about to begin my Sophomore year, is that to early?
 
Yes. You may want to wait at least until your junior year when you can apply to SS, at that time his/her advice (as well as the interview) will go a long way to help you succeed.
 
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