Incomplete status

You don't "have a goal" for an LOA. It is a mystery why people are given them. We didn't even know what the heck that was until it showed up in our mailbox the day after Thanksgiving. There was quite a happy dance in our house that weekend thinking he was on his way, because why wouldn't he be able to meet all the requirements laid out in the LOA already having one??

Guess what? Even with that in hand, and my kid's nom interviews scheduled, and him clearly telling the nom panels that he had an LOA from the USNA and just needed a nomination to close it out .................... he didn't get a nomination. 3.85 unweighted/4.4 weighted GPA, 7 AP classes, all Honors and GT for others, worked, volunteered, #1 distance run for the school well on his way to hitting D1 qualifying times, etc. etc. Biggest hole in the app? Crappy SAT compared to others (1250). Add into that, one of the most competitive areas for a USNA applicants (we literally are in the same Congressional district as Annapolis - and he was going against over 250 other kids for one of 10 slots for USNA on the nomination slate).

He. Didn't. Get. A. Nomination. Even though the Academy clearly wanted him in the class.

Boom, no appointment during the big culling day (which was near May in the '25 cycle, not April 15th). TWE. Talk about disappointment.

LOAs are great.
.
.
.
.
.
Until they are not.
 
IronmanDaremo said:
You don't "have a goal" for an LOA. It is a mystery why people are given them. We didn't even know what the heck that was until it showed up in our mailbox the day after Thanksgiving. There was quite a happy dance in our house that weekend thinking he was on his way, because why wouldn't he be able to meet all the requirements laid out in the LOA already having one??

Guess what? Even with that in hand, and my kid's nom interviews scheduled, and him clearly telling the nom panels that he had an LOA from the USNA and just needed a nomination to close it out .................... he didn't get a nomination. 3.85 unweighted/4.4 weighted GPA, 7 AP classes, all Honors and GT for others, worked, volunteered, #1 distance run for the school well on his way to hitting D1 qualifying times, etc. etc. Biggest hole in the app? Crappy SAT compared to others (1250). Add into that, one of the most competitive areas for a USNA applicants (we literally are in the same Congressional district as Annapolis - and he was going against over 250 other kids for one of 10 slots for USNA on the nomination slate).

He. Didn't. Get. A. Nomination. Even though the Academy clearly wanted him in the class.

Boom, no appointment during the big culling day (which was near May in the '25 cycle, not April 15th). TWE. Talk about disappointment.

LOAs are great.
.
.
.
.
.
Until they are not.
Click to expand...
Absolutely.

We were blessed not to know what an LOA was before my son got one. The celebration was short in his case, as it was meaningless to him. He couldn’t fulfill the requirements for medical.

I know why he got it.
 
Just to be clear on LOAs... USNA does not release information on why they give them or how many. Being reviewed by the Admissions Board is not required for an LOA. We have seen candidates receive them as early as Summer Seminar and the board has not even met. They can be given at any time in the admissions cycle in which a candidate does not have all the boxes checked for an appointment. Early in the cycle its usually DoDMERB and Nominations. Sometimes it is completing the CFA. As the cycle progresses more of these boxes are checked. But some candidates live in districts that have MOCs do not submit their slates until late January. Others complete them in Oct or Nov or they have a Presidential Nom. Sure, an LOA is nice to have. It is nice to be wanted. It's nice to know if you complete X, then you will get an appointment. I don't want to downplay having an LOA is nice to have. But, they are not a guarantee. We see it time and time again on this forum (to include one of our regular poster's DS who came from an extremely competitive district/state) receive an LOA and not receive an appointment. It happens rarely, but it does happen each year. Usually it's not securing a Nom as a candidate is from an extremely competitive district/state. There are many variables to the process and it seems convoluted and frustrating, because a candidate only has so much control over the various parts of the app to include noms and medical. A candidate could be reviewed in one of the early boards in September and not know their final outcome until April. Every candidate who commits to this process should be mentally prepared to wait until April 15th for their final outcome.
 
IronmanDaremo said:
You don't "have a goal" for an LOA. It is a mystery why people are given them. We didn't even know what the heck that was until it showed up in our mailbox the day after Thanksgiving. There was quite a happy dance in our house that weekend thinking he was on his way, because why wouldn't he be able to meet all the requirements laid out in the LOA already having one??

Guess what? Even with that in hand, and my kid's nom interviews scheduled, and him clearly telling the nom panels that he had an LOA from the USNA and just needed a nomination to close it out .................... he didn't get a nomination. 3.85 unweighted/4.4 weighted GPA, 7 AP classes, all Honors and GT for others, worked, volunteered, #1 distance run for the school well on his way to hitting D1 qualifying times, etc. etc. Biggest hole in the app? Crappy SAT compared to others (1250). Add into that, one of the most competitive areas for a USNA applicants (we literally are in the same Congressional district as Annapolis - and he was going against over 250 other kids for one of 10 slots for USNA on the nomination slate).

He. Didn't. Get. A. Nomination. Even though the Academy clearly wanted him in the class.

Boom, no appointment during the big culling day (which was near May in the '25 cycle, not April 15th). TWE. Talk about disappointment.

LOAs are great.
.
.
.
.
.
Until they are not.
Click to expand...
Did he reapply? Just curious. That is very shocking and eye-opening to this whole process.
 
Oh, his saga is legendary on the forum. :p

Yes, he re-applied as a college re-applicant. No noms received AGAIN from our MoCs. Luckily, he crushed it (mostly) in his Freshman Fall semester, and was able to secure a letter of recommendation/nom from his NROTC PNS (which is its own huge part of the dude's saga). He also got whacked with a new DoDMERB DQ that came about as part of the NROTC scholarship he won at the same time as he got the PNS nom. And he got this in April just a week before the big culling day was happening!

As a result, waitlisted for '26 on April 15th during that cycle. We got the medical concern cleared with some rushed visits to some specialists and reports sent in. Removed from waitlist in early May. Just started his 3/C Youngster year. ;)
 
IronmanDaremo said:
Oh, his saga is legendary on the forum. :p

Yes, he re-applied as a college re-applicant. No noms received AGAIN from our MoCs. Luckily, he crushed it (mostly) in his Freshman Fall semester, and was able to secure a letter of recommendation/nom from his NROTC PNS (which is its own huge part of the dude's saga). He also got whacked with a new DoDMERB DQ that came about as part of the NROTC scholarship he won at the same time as he got the PNS nom. And he got this in April just a week before the big culling day was happening!

As a result, waitlisted for '26 on April 15th during that cycle. We got the medical concern cleared with some rushed visits to some specialists and reports sent in. Removed from waitlist in early May. Just started his 3/C Youngster year. ;)
Click to expand...
Legendary indeed. A lesson in grit, perseverance, determination and humility by Son of Ironman and his family.
 
IronmanDaremo said:
You don't "have a goal" for an LOA. It is a mystery why people are given them. We didn't even know what the heck that was until it showed up in our mailbox the day after Thanksgiving. There was quite a happy dance in our house that weekend thinking he was on his way, because why wouldn't he be able to meet all the requirements laid out in the LOA already having one??

Guess what? Even with that in hand, and my kid's nom interviews scheduled, and him clearly telling the nom panels that he had an LOA from the USNA and just needed a nomination to close it out .................... he didn't get a nomination. 3.85 unweighted/4.4 weighted GPA, 7 AP classes, all Honors and GT for others, worked, volunteered, #1 distance run for the school well on his way to hitting D1 qualifying times, etc. etc. Biggest hole in the app? Crappy SAT compared to others (1250). Add into that, one of the most competitive areas for a USNA applicants (we literally are in the same Congressional district as Annapolis - and he was going against over 250 other kids for one of 10 slots for USNA on the nomination slate).

He. Didn't. Get. A. Nomination. Even though the Academy clearly wanted him in the class.

Boom, no appointment during the big culling day (which was near May in the '25 cycle, not April 15th). TWE. Talk about disappointment.

LOAs are great.
.
.
.
.
.
Until they are not.
Click to expand...
I'm just curious about our congressional district's competitiveness. How did you know how many other applicants there were for the ten slots for USNA? I think we are in a very "uncompetitive" district because when my DS interviewed for Inspire, we were told that by the admissions person at USNA - hence why he was asked to interview (by the way, he didn't get into the program). For us, that remains the one really unknown variable. We don't know how hard it is to get a nomination. As a point of reference, our MOC asked for a simple application - no essays, no recommendations, just a one-page form and ACT score. That was it.

Thank you!
 
jumpjack81 said:
I'm just curious about our congressional district's competitiveness. How did you know how many other applicants there were for the ten slots for USNA? I think we are in a very "uncompetitive" district because when my DS interviewed for Inspire, we were told that by the admissions person at USNA - hence why he was asked to interview (by the way, he didn't get into the program). For us, that remains the one really unknown variable. We don't know how hard it is to get a nomination. As a point of reference, our MOC asked for a simple application - no essays, no recommendations, just a one-page form and ACT score. That was it.

Thank you!
Click to expand...
Sometimes MOC will tell candidates how many applied. They aren’t required to.

We were told by MOC staff that only 6 applied for my son’s slate - we do not know how many of those were actually qualified by admissions.

All it takes to be a competitive district is one excellent candidate on your slate.
 
jumpjack81 said:
I'm just curious about our congressional district's competitiveness. How did you know how many other applicants there were for the ten slots for USNA? I think we are in a very "uncompetitive" district because when my DS interviewed for Inspire, we were told that by the admissions person at USNA - hence why he was asked to interview (by the way, he didn't get into the program). For us, that remains the one really unknown variable. We don't know how hard it is to get a nomination. As a point of reference, our MOC asked for a simple application - no essays, no recommendations, just a one-page form and ACT score. That was it.

Thank you!
Click to expand...
The only reason we knew how many kids were competing for our Senator (2) nominations was because the staff told DS. One Senator had culled the apps to interview 80 over two weekends. The other Senator didn't share, but based on the parking lot and the well dressed kids walking in, I would hazard a guess it was similar. I was appalled to see parents walking into the building with kids. I only drove DS as it was 3 hours one way, and if he had broken down, he wouldn't have had many options being 16.
I told my son if he couldn't find the office and manage checking in for the interview he should just throw in the towel. Guess I'm sort of a tough love mom in some respects.
I waited in the car with the ac running and read a book.
 
In MD, the Senators coordinate their nom slates. They rarely offer a nom for somewhere if the other group is giving one. And they also coordinate with the Congressmen.

During his interview panel coordination, they told him how many applicants there were for the noms. (Not too mention, they mass emailed everyone without a blind CC, so you could see every kid who was going to be interviewed!).

Some states/MoCs do that to spread the wealth across a healthy group of people, offering more chances. And, as far as we know, they do not "principle nom" them.

For example, while my dude did not get a USNA nom, in his first round he did also apply to the USAFA. Our congressman gave him a nom there. The Senator's staffers sent a letter congratulating him on that, and said they wouldn't also give him one.

He only applied to USNA the second round.
 
A1Janitor said:
Sometimes MOC will tell candidates how many applied. They aren’t required to.

We were told by MOC staff that only 6 applied for my son’s slate - we do not know how many of those were actually qualified by admissions.

All it takes to be a competitive district is one excellent candidate on your slate.
Click to expand...
Perhaps I don't understand this correctly, but if a MOC (congressman or congresswoman) has 10 slots to nominate for USNA - doesn't that mean they can give nominations to 10 qualified applicants?
 
jumpjack81 said:
Perhaps I don't understand this correctly, but if a MOC (congressman or congresswoman) has 10 slots to nominate for USNA - doesn't that mean they can give nominations to 10 qualified applicants?
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Yes, however, in some non competitive districts/states, there may not be 10 applying to a MOC.
 
jumpjack81 said:
Perhaps I don't understand this correctly, but if a MOC (congressman or congresswoman) has 10 slots to nominate for USNA - doesn't that mean they can give nominations to 10 qualified applicants?
Click to expand...
Read the stickies on this site.

They are allowed to nominate by law ten candidates for five slots over four years.

Generally, they have one slot per year that they can give 10 nominations to. Some years they might not have any slates because they already have five at the academy, or maybe nobody applies. Some years they might have more than one slate.
 
A1Janitor said:
Read the stickies on this site.

They are allowed to nominate by law ten candidates for five slots over four years.

Generally, they have one slot per year that they can give 10 nominations to. Some years they might not have any slates because they already have five at the academy, or maybe nobody applies. Some years they might have more than one slate.
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Got it 👍
 
@mike1979 I would point out to NOT fall into the trap of thinking that ‘just bc you don’t have an LOA, doesn’t mean you aren’t competitive for an appointment’. Or that you won’t ‘win the slate’ and receive one. Or receive one of the SA’s controlled noms and receive an appointment.

Dont fall into that trap or thought process. If you MUST pull the application, BC ED is the way to go for your son, then do so. But make sure it’s your sons choice. Not dads. So that your hands are clean from any blame for his future wondering of ‘what if’, if serving is his passion.

He can aslo always apply OCS after he graduates from ‘regular college’.

Yes it’s a decision to be made. This application/appointment process is long. It’s said to be a marathon, not a sprint. And sometimes that marathon is even a two cycle application (common). But the focus has to be where the child wants it to be. Not mom and dad.

If everything is riding on ‘the school’, and not ‘the mission’ (serving), this may not be the best fit.
 
There's a lot of room for MoC to express themselves through the nomination process, it's not all set in stone and many do things their own way. Read the Nominations thread FAQ on this site and then dig around the rest of the site to get a feel for the different ways things can work. Then go read what your rep needs and do that.

Part of the process is learning to follow a process, and another good lesson is only trying to control the things you can change. The quality of competition can't be changed, so don't sweat it and stay focused on turning in the best app you can.
 
jumpjack81 said:
Perhaps I don't understand this correctly, but if a MOC (congressman or congresswoman) has 10 slots to nominate for USNA - doesn't that mean they can give nominations to 10 qualified applicants
Click to expand...

First, each MOC can have up to 5 persons in each Service Academy (ate least the big 3; I don't know about MMA and its my understanding USCGA doesn't have noms at all). Most nominate 1 per year , but sometimes more based on attrition (Some years they nominate 2, or even 3).

For each, slot available, they can nominate up to 10. Most use a competitive nomination process, where they nominate up to 10, and let USNA Admissions choose which is most competitive. Other use the principal nomination , where they designate their #1 candidate an the Academy must accept if that person is qualified (except USNA, which I believe has some discretion, but rarely exercised --if a MOC makes a principal nomination, really not wise to counter it!)

Noms and Appointments compares qualified Applicants (3Q) with Nomination, and offers the appointment itself. THis process is mostly invisible to the BGO and the Candidate, all you will know is you are Complete Pending Review (CPR) from the time the application is complete to the time the offer is made.
 
IronmanDaremo said:
Oh, his saga is legendary on the forum. :p

Yes, he re-applied as a college re-applicant. No noms received AGAIN from our MoCs. Luckily, he crushed it (mostly) in his Freshman Fall semester, and was able to secure a letter of recommendation/nom from his NROTC PNS (which is its own huge part of the dude's saga). He also got whacked with a new DoDMERB DQ that came about as part of the NROTC scholarship he won at the same time as he got the PNS nom. And he got this in April just a week before the big culling day was happening!

As a result, waitlisted for '26 on April 15th during that cycle. We got the medical concern cleared with some rushed visits to some specialists and reports sent in. Removed from waitlist in early May. Just started his 3/C Youngster year. ;)
Click to expand...
I had heard a rumor that he was almost DQ'd because his dad had 3 ear piercings. Crazy how those rumors get started.......😏
 
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