Letter from the Regional Commander

Roadking

10-Year Member
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Jan 26, 2012
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DS received a letter from his RC inviting him to a Service Acedemy Information Day hosted by our State Senators. The RC said this invitation was extended only to the most highly competitive candidates within 100 miles of the event. RC also said this would be a great opportunity to meet DS. Is this a invite that he should be very excited about, or a letter that should be taken with a grain of salt? Anyone have any experience with this? Thx.
 
I received the exact same letter, so I think that it is just a form invitation letter.
 
This is an event you and your DS should certainly attend. Not only will your DS have an opportunity for some face time with his RC but the nominations coordinator for your MOC as well. My DS found that it was important to be as visible and "well known" in the SA circles as possible. It does make a difference if your RC or MOC nom coordinator sees your DSs name on a his file and remembers meeting him... hopefully a favorable impression was made! This process isn't just about grades, stats and numbers.
 
It is absolutly critical that you go. The key admissions people know you primarily through your written record. You must make sure that they know you personally. Make sure you meet the Regional Admissions team - look them eye-to-eye, shake hards with a firm grip, and make sure they know you really are determined to go to West Point.
In many cases several candidates are very close when evaluating their written records - the impression you make in-person can move you to the top of the stack.
 
Along the line of what everyone else is saying, I had the same letter last year and went. Met my RC who went to WP and started emailing him about the application process. 2 months down the line at my nomination interview for one of my senators, he was on my board. Recieved the nom. from that senator; it also made the interview less stressful and more relaxing. Definitely go and not only will you learn a lot, but you meet some awesome people.
 
sorry for not providing more info, but I will be applying this year, so how do you get this email inviting you? do you have to make the first move and email your RC? i will take any explanation gratefully, thanks
 
Thanks for the input...DS will be there for sure. I think it is wise to meet the RC and the MOC liason as well. The RC is new to the admissions team so I do think it is very important to meet him. On a side note, I would assume that the RC sits on the admissions board for at least his region, do all the RC's sit on the board together? I am just wondering if they go to bat against each other for their guys/gals? Or do they only sit on the board which is considering only his or her region? Do they each get X amount of slots for their region? Sorry for going off topic.
 
sorry for not providing more info, but I will be applying this year, so how do you get this email inviting you? do you have to make the first move and email your RC? i will take any explanation gratefully, thanks

If you started your application process and you are a decent candidate (usually based on SAT/ACT scores), you should get an invite to an admissions event in your area. Can't speak for all RCs, but RC sent out invitiation based on locality and SAT/ACT scores.

You should check the admissions website

http://portal.dean.usma.edu/admissions/Pages/default.aspx

and check or call your MOC to see if they are sponsoring any SA related events. If the event is specific to SA, SAs usually have representation. If the event is more of a college affair, less chance.
 
You definitely need to go to this and make sure that the CANDIDATE does the talking, NOT the parents. I have been to two of these briefing and the number one thing I see is the parents talking about how great their kid is while the candidate sits there and smiles. It does not leave a good impression and the officers probably won't even remember the candidates name because the candidate wasn't the one talking. I can't tell you how annoying it is to hear 5 sets of parents all talk about how great their child is how they are "something special" and will get into West Point so easily.

Bottom line, yes definitely go, but to all the parents on here, be quiet and let your kid do the talking for themselves.
 
I agree 100% that the candidate should do 100% of the talking and communications with all West Point admissions officers and the field force. I would even advise that the candidates ask all of the questions at briefings.

Parents - attend the briefings but keep a VERY LOW profile. The candidate is being evaluated - not the parents. In fact, your active participation HURTS your candidates chances. Like it or not that is the way it works.
 
Thanks Big Nick and Art.Perea that is solid advice and it is honestly a problem that I have. You love your DS so much and are so proud that you want the world to know how great he is...LOL I will take this advice to heart and will basically only speak when spoken to! And this will be my policy moving forward through the process, it just makes sense.
 
Roadking,

Great. I know it is hard but the WP Admissions people do not want to see a candidate willing to be in the background. They want to see an articulate, intelligent, aggressive, confident, determined, independent, candidate.

One of the things I look for when conducting the official interviews - how much does the candidate want to go to WP. Is it a passion or just checking out a great school. In additon, do the parents want their DS to go to WP more than the candidate wants to go? I see this a few times every year.
 
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