Interview Question

S

SA Hopeful

Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2017
Messages
27
I contacted my Liason Officer six days ago regarding scheduling an interview so that I may complete my application, but he has not responded to my email. Should I resend the aforementioned email? Thank you.
 
Send again and if he does not respond, see if he has a phone number that you can call. If he does call him and leave him a respectful message with what you need. Understand that they are extremely busy.
 
Yes the ALOs are busy people. So is it reasonable to ask them to help by conducting a practice MOC interview with them?
 
S T O P. Right now.

Your ALO is a volunteer. The advice to send a second email (after 2 weeks or so) is sound, and if you have a phone number - okay, call - 2 weeks after your initial email.

NO, do not ask him to conduct a practice MOC interview with them. The ALO will interview you, and you may find many examples of interview questions (and answers, and what to wear/not wear, and how to comb your hair, and if you should wear sneakers and gym shorts... ).

Search through the many many many threads here related to meeting/greeting/interviewing with your ALO here on the forum.

Several of the members are indeed ALO's and have been for years. They post suggestions and ideas, do's and don'ts here, with some frequency. Do a little searching (If ol' fencersmother can do it, so can you!), and you will see some guidelines regarding ALOs.
 
My ALO contacted me after thirteen days of waiting. The purpose of his email was to inquire about where I live, etc. I responded almost immediately and have continued to wait another six days without hearing anything back from him. This is very disappointing because my "counselors" at the other SAs have responded to all of my emails within 24 hours. Do I have the ability to request a different ALO? If so, should I?
 
Conducting practice interviews is a fantastic idea, but your ALO is not the best person to ask for this for reasons already specified by @fencersmother. When I practiced MOC interviews, I relied on some of my family's friends, mainly friends of my parents, that I did not know well enough to get biased feedback from. One of them happened to be a USMA grad--SA grads are amazing sources for help when you need a practice interview because most of them understand what an MOC board will actually ask you. SA candidate books also have quite the amount of handy information on conducting practice interviews. I recommend consulting one of those.

Your ALO is incredibly busy. Please do not expect him to contact you immediately, as ALOs are volunteers and have lives. As seniors in high school, our primary goal is definitely to be admitted to the college we wish to attend, but ALOs usually have families and sometimes other factors that increase their responsibility for other individuals. I'm not sure if you can change your ALO, as I have never thought to ask about it or research it, but please consider what I said.
 
DS' ALO was still in Air National Guard; deployed to Mideast during the process. Some of these folks are pretty busy . . .
 
I am still waiting for him to respond to my email. Do you think that I should send him another email? I don't want to pester him, but this is the last part of my application and I initially contacted him nearly a month ago. Additionally, he has not said that he is busy, instead, he used the fact that he is a volunteer to explain his lack of replies. Thank you for your time.
 
So everything regarding your application is completed? This is the only thing holding it up from being completed? When is your due date?
 
Okay...first; relax, the ALO is there but may be extremely busy.

OR..."your" ALO may NOT be the one that will do the AF From 4060 interview. This year the ALO's are being tasked to interview candidates OUTSIDE of their normal area. For example, while I have 18 candidates that I am the ALO for; I mentor them, answer their questions, help prepare them; I will NOT interview any of them. Their interviews will be accomplished by ALO's outside Arizona. I have already interviewed one candidate in Kansas and three in Texas. That's how the cycle works this year.

So...while I understand your desire to be very proactive (and I LOVE that) understand there may be other factors involved.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
SA hopeful... is your ENTIRE application complete except for the ALO interview? When is your date?

Please, your ALO has touched base with you. Relax.
 
My DS has had a similar experience to the OP's regarding contact with his ALO. He tried to communicate with his original ALO at the beginning of the process, as recommended in the Instructions to Candidate Booklet, by email and phone messages, but the ALO never responded. He has tried to contact his "New" ALO to set up an interview, but has received no response. DS has completed his application, is a competitive candidate, and is DoDMERB qualified.

DS is applying to two Service Academies. The ALO equivalent and Counselors at the other SA have been proactive and responsive to DS. He started this process with USAFA ranked by far as the number one SA on his list. As he has moved through this process, he has started to lean toward the other SA. He has taken the sports recruiting adage, "Go where you are wanted," and applied it to his service academy process.

We live in a large competitive state and district, and SA rankings are extremely important in the nomination process. DS's Congressman does not double nominate, so DS's number one SA choice will in all likelihood be his nomination. DS is now considering contacting his Congressman's SA Liaison to ask if he can re-rank his choices. He is not contemplating this action lightly, in fact, he considers it one of the most important decisions of his life.

The OP's and DS's experiences may be anomalies, but if they are typical, then USAFA may be creating potential issues bringing competitive candidates into the academy. If this new ALO interview process is the problem, then USAFA may need to rethink it. I say this with great deference to the men and women volunteer ALO's at USAFA, but the volunteers at another academy, so far, have been better advocates for their Alma Mater.

Just to be clear, DS says he would be thrilled and honored to receive an appointment from either SA. However, if he had to choose between the two, it would now be a very difficult choice.
 
JDB said:
My DS has had a similar experience to the OP's regarding contact with his ALO. He tried to communicate with his original ALO at the beginning of the process, as recommended in the Instructions to Candidate Booklet, by email and phone messages, but the ALO never responded. He has tried to contact his "New" ALO to set up an interview, but has received no response. DS has completed his application, is a competitive candidate, and is DoDMERB qualified.

DS is applying to two Service Academies. The ALO equivalent and Counselors at the other SA have been proactive and responsive to DS. He started this process with USAFA ranked by far as the number one SA on his list. As he has moved through this process, he has started to lean toward the other SA. He has taken the sports recruiting adage, "Go where you are wanted," and applied it to his service academy process.

We live in a large competitive state and district, and SA rankings are extremely important in the nomination process. DS's Congressman does not double nominate, so DS's number one SA choice will in all likelihood be his nomination. DS is now considering contacting his Congressman's SA Liaison to ask if he can re-rank his choices. He is not contemplating this action lightly, in fact, he considers it one of the most important decisions of his life.

The OP's and DS's experiences may be anomalies, but if they are typical, then USAFA may be creating potential issues bringing competitive candidates into the academy. If this new ALO interview process is the problem, then USAFA may need to rethink it. I say this with great deference to the men and women volunteer ALO's at USAFA, but the volunteers at another academy, so far, have been better advocates for their Alma Mater.

Just to be clear, DS says he would be thrilled and honored to receive an appointment from either SA. However, if he had to choose between the two, it would now be a very difficult choice.
Click to expand...
As frustrating as unresponsive ALOs can be (mine also was), I would recommend against making a decision of which to attend based on that. Once he is actually accepted, the ALO is no longer part of the picture. Your son should focus more broadly and decide which SA will best fit his needs and desires, both now and in the future (summer opportunities, degree options, career fields, commissioned lifestyle, etc). Just my opinion, but take it for what it's worth.
 
Hoodlum15 said:
JDB said:
My DS has had a similar experience to the OP's regarding contact with his ALO. He tried to communicate with his original ALO at the beginning of the process, as recommended in the Instructions to Candidate Booklet, by email and phone messages, but the ALO never responded. He has tried to contact his "New" ALO to set up an interview, but has received no response. DS has completed his application, is a competitive candidate, and is DoDMERB qualified.

DS is applying to two Service Academies. The ALO equivalent and Counselors at the other SA have been proactive and responsive to DS. He started this process with USAFA ranked by far as the number one SA on his list. As he has moved through this process, he has started to lean toward the other SA. He has taken the sports recruiting adage, "Go where you are wanted," and applied it to his service academy process.

We live in a large competitive state and district, and SA rankings are extremely important in the nomination process. DS's Congressman does not double nominate, so DS's number one SA choice will in all likelihood be his nomination. DS is now considering contacting his Congressman's SA Liaison to ask if he can re-rank his choices. He is not contemplating this action lightly, in fact, he considers it one of the most important decisions of his life.

The OP's and DS's experiences may be anomalies, but if they are typical, then USAFA may be creating potential issues bringing competitive candidates into the academy. If this new ALO interview process is the problem, then USAFA may need to rethink it. I say this with great deference to the men and women volunteer ALO's at USAFA, but the volunteers at another academy, so far, have been better advocates for their Alma Mater.

Just to be clear, DS says he would be thrilled and honored to receive an appointment from either SA. However, if he had to choose between the two, it would now be a very difficult choice.
Click to expand...
As frustrating as unresponsive ALOs can be (mine also was), I would recommend against making a decision of which to attend based on that. Once he is actually accepted, the ALO is no longer part of the picture. Your son should focus more broadly and decide which SA will best fit his needs and desires, both now and in the future (summer opportunities, degree options, career fields, commissioned lifestyle, etc). Just my opinion, but take it for what it's worth.
Click to expand...

Those are great points Hoodlum15. However, your recommendation misses the main point and assumes that DS has a choice of which SA to attend. He has to receive an appointment before he has a choice. Right or wrong, he has come to the conclusion, based mostly on interactions with his academy liaisons, that he has a better chance of an appointment at one academy over the other. That belief has potentially changed his strategy for the nomination process. If he gets to a point where he has to choose between two appointments, then all of your points will be valuable for him to consider.

Several previous posts in this thread contended that since the USAFA ALO's are volunteers, candidates should not expect to receive a high level of interaction from them. One of the posts was a bit condescending, and I wanted to relate to others on this thread that volunteer liaison officers from one of the other SAs provided a significantly higher level of interaction. Of course this is purely anecdotal, based only on DS's experience, but it didn't square with the information being provided by the majority of posters. Additionally, one of the posts advised reading some of the many threads which discuss ALO guidelines. Since USAFA made a significant change to the ALO interview process this year, most of those old threads may no longer be of value.

Finally, local ALO's are called ALO mentors in the Instructions to Candidate Booklet. I have never heard of a mentor who didn't have significant, substantial interaction with those under his/her tutelage.

Again, DS would be thrilled and honored to receive an appointment to USAFA. However, USAFA literature indicates that ALOs play a significantly different role in this process than what DS has seen from his.
 
JDB said:
Hoodlum15 said:
JDB said:
My DS has had a similar experience to the OP's regarding contact with his ALO. He tried to communicate with his original ALO at the beginning of the process, as recommended in the Instructions to Candidate Booklet, by email and phone messages, but the ALO never responded. He has tried to contact his "New" ALO to set up an interview, but has received no response. DS has completed his application, is a competitive candidate, and is DoDMERB qualified.

DS is applying to two Service Academies. The ALO equivalent and Counselors at the other SA have been proactive and responsive to DS. He started this process with USAFA ranked by far as the number one SA on his list. As he has moved through this process, he has started to lean toward the other SA. He has taken the sports recruiting adage, "Go where you are wanted," and applied it to his service academy process.

We live in a large competitive state and district, and SA rankings are extremely important in the nomination process. DS's Congressman does not double nominate, so DS's number one SA choice will in all likelihood be his nomination. DS is now considering contacting his Congressman's SA Liaison to ask if he can re-rank his choices. He is not contemplating this action lightly, in fact, he considers it one of the most important decisions of his life.

The OP's and DS's experiences may be anomalies, but if they are typical, then USAFA may be creating potential issues bringing competitive candidates into the academy. If this new ALO interview process is the problem, then USAFA may need to rethink it. I say this with great deference to the men and women volunteer ALO's at USAFA, but the volunteers at another academy, so far, have been better advocates for their Alma Mater.

Just to be clear, DS says he would be thrilled and honored to receive an appointment from either SA. However, if he had to choose between the two, it would now be a very difficult choice.
Click to expand...
As frustrating as unresponsive ALOs can be (mine also was), I would recommend against making a decision of which to attend based on that. Once he is actually accepted, the ALO is no longer part of the picture. Your son should focus more broadly and decide which SA will best fit his needs and desires, both now and in the future (summer opportunities, degree options, career fields, commissioned lifestyle, etc). Just my opinion, but take it for what it's worth.
Click to expand...

Those are great points Hoodlum15. However, your recommendation misses the main point and assumes that DS has a choice of which SA to attend. He has to receive an appointment before he has a choice. Right or wrong, he has come to the conclusion, based mostly on interactions with his academy liaisons, that he has a better chance of an appointment at one academy over the other. That belief has potentially changed his strategy for the nomination process. If he gets to a point where he has to choose between two appointments, then all of your points will be valuable for him to consider.

Several previous posts in this thread contended that since the USAFA ALO's are volunteers, candidates should not expect to receive a high level of interaction from them. One of the posts was a bit condescending, and I wanted to relate to others on this thread that volunteer liaison officers from one of the other SAs provided a significantly higher level of interaction. Of course this is purely anecdotal, based only on DS's experience, but it didn't square with the information being provided by the majority of posters. Additionally, one of the posts advised reading some of the many threads which discuss ALO guidelines. Since USAFA made a significant change to the ALO interview process this year, most of those old threads may no longer be of value.

Finally, local ALO's are called ALO mentors in the Instructions to Candidate Booklet. I have never heard of a mentor who didn't have significant, substantial interaction with those under his/her tutelage.

Again, DS would be thrilled and honored to receive an appointment to USAFA. However, USAFA literature indicates that ALOs play a significantly different role in this process than what DS has seen from his.
Click to expand...
Sorry I was unclear. I wasn't trying to elaborate, dismiss, or confirm your thoughts on the ALO and their role. I understand that your current place in the process is ranking your SA preferences for nomination purposes. I was just trying to encourage your son to consider more than just ALO attitude when selecting his Academy preferences - as you said, it's one of the most important decisions of his life.
 
After Seeing my sister go through the process, and now myself, my opinion is USAFA messed up with there admission changes. It has become very impersonal. As stated above if a candidate is going into the process undecided,the attention and help the other academies offer would definitely sway a decision. I think the higher ups at USAFA messed up when they downgraded the importance of the ALO. I have completed my application and recieved an LOA but have never spoke to my assigned ALO. If I didn’t have a sister who went there I don’t know how my questions would have been answered. My ALO never responded to any questions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top