Letter of Recommendation
- Thread starter 2026Cadet
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They’re technically not letters of recommendation. They’re teacher assessments. Big difference. The teacher isn’t recommending you in the traditional sense, but assessing your skills and characteristics based on a template SAs provide. (So it’s plausible that a teacher may not be recommending you at all. Though for the vast majority of candidates, I’m sure that’s not the case.)
The assessments fold into the 60% that accounts for academics, alongside your transcript and test scores.
The assessments fold into the 60% that accounts for academics, alongside your transcript and test scores.
Roadking
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You will never see the evaluation from your teachers. You send USMA the teacher's email address and the USMA will send the teacher a link to open and answer questions about you. Those answers are sent to USMA directly, you have nothing to do except send WP the teacher email address.
Unless there has been a recent change, the following applies:
It is an electronic form and is quite simple and self explanatory. Evaluators do not need to be prepped other than telling them they will receive an email from USMA with instructions on how to access the form.
The majority of the evaluation is structured with little room for creative writing. It has statements regarding candidate potential with dropdown selections to to agree or disagree with each statement on a numerical scale. There is then a box to expand on any statement in which the evaluator rates the candidate negatively.
A second section asks how the candidate would do in colleges in the local area. Beyond that there is an address to send additional comments, but this is not necessary unless there is an unusual situation that cannot be covered in the other spaces provided.
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Very good points covered in this thread - useful for candidates to any of the service academies. Let me offer my 2 cents of what I tell my candidates (below) and see my other posts related to SOEs and Interviewing.
Most of you already have strong relationships with teachers, coaches, administrators, counselors, and members of your community that will be writing physical letters or online recommendations for your nominations. That is great, but make sure you have particularly strong relationships with the subject matter SOEs West Point requires for Math, English, Physical Science, and PE (Navy and AF do not require this one). The SOEs do not have to write a letter per se, but there is an opportunity for them to provide narrative text in addition to the survey they take rating you in various categories. You will provide a name and email address in your portal and that SOE individual will receive an email from West Point directing them to a secure link that has them provide online answers and brief comments. Develop your relationships with SOEs and let them know how this works and what is coming to their email inbox when the time is right. It is a brief and easy process. You may want to wait for the early fall to insert SOE contact details into your portal so that you can give them a fresh, updated resume with your input and personal face-to-face request. SOEs can be from a teacher from a current or past course that you took with them – just make sure you trust that they will take care of you and can tell a good story about you. Ask your FFR to talk to your SOEs if they need someone else to explain how important this step is.
PE SOE. Not many candidates take formal PE classes any longer, so Admissions gets the most questions about this one. It cannot be one of your coaches unless they were also a previous PE teacher for you. Reach out to school Athletic Directors to see if they might be able to be your PE SOE. Many have a PE and/or counseling/admin background and will try to help you out. PE SOE order of precedence:
Most of you already have strong relationships with teachers, coaches, administrators, counselors, and members of your community that will be writing physical letters or online recommendations for your nominations. That is great, but make sure you have particularly strong relationships with the subject matter SOEs West Point requires for Math, English, Physical Science, and PE (Navy and AF do not require this one). The SOEs do not have to write a letter per se, but there is an opportunity for them to provide narrative text in addition to the survey they take rating you in various categories. You will provide a name and email address in your portal and that SOE individual will receive an email from West Point directing them to a secure link that has them provide online answers and brief comments. Develop your relationships with SOEs and let them know how this works and what is coming to their email inbox when the time is right. It is a brief and easy process. You may want to wait for the early fall to insert SOE contact details into your portal so that you can give them a fresh, updated resume with your input and personal face-to-face request. SOEs can be from a teacher from a current or past course that you took with them – just make sure you trust that they will take care of you and can tell a good story about you. Ask your FFR to talk to your SOEs if they need someone else to explain how important this step is.
PE SOE. Not many candidates take formal PE classes any longer, so Admissions gets the most questions about this one. It cannot be one of your coaches unless they were also a previous PE teacher for you. Reach out to school Athletic Directors to see if they might be able to be your PE SOE. Many have a PE and/or counseling/admin background and will try to help you out. PE SOE order of precedence:
- PE teacher that had you in a class (with input from coaches).
- Fitness or Health course instructor or teacher (with input from coaches).
- School Athletic Director (with input from coaches).
- Your CFA Administrator.
- Another PE teacher that was not your teacher (with input from your coaches).