Letters for multiple Academies

wondermom

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DD will apply to 3 SA as well ROTC, so I want to know when the time comes, the teachers she will ask the recommendation letters need to address them to each Academy?, or can be a general " To whom it may concern", anybody who already did this or know about, please let me know.
Thanks.
 
DD will apply to 3 SA as well ROTC, so I want to know when the time comes, the teachers she will ask the recommendation letters need to address them to each Academy?, or can be a general " To whom it may concern", anybody who already did this or know about, please let me know.
Thanks.

Teachers/Counselors go online to answer specif questions asked by each SA. Candidate needs to fill out his/her portal with the names and e-mail addresses of the recommending teachers and counselors. SA will notify via e-mail the teachers and counselors to go online and complete the recommendation.
 
DD will apply to 3 SA as well ROTC, so I want to know when the time comes, the teachers she will ask the recommendation letters need to address them to each Academy?, or can be a general " To whom it may concern", anybody who already did this or know about, please let me know.
Thanks.
My son had same situation last year. First, some of the requirements are slightly different between the academies, so pay attention, and utilize to your advantage if it makes a difference (if you can use a teacher who just loves the kid, as opposed to one who is indifferent). My son asked that each be specific to the particular Academy. Looks better. Also, offer to do as much for the teacher as possible. Like providing an addressed stamped envelope. My son had a teacher who asked if he could write something up as a template. He did, and took advantage of the opportunity to add a few superlatives. Keep in mind, some teachers can write a good letter, and others you will wonder how they ever got a job. Most academy applicants have teachers who really like them. So it's not hard getting someone who is willing to say good things. Keep in mind what the academies want to hear; character, intelligence, team leader, class leader, respected by other teachers, but by the administration and student body..... Make sure the teachers know what they are looking for.

Also remember that the teacher evaluations are probably more important than letters of recommendation. Those are essentially online surveys. Other teachers do those. Math, English and science I think.

My son had his principal do a letter of recommendation for each academy. Councilors can be good too.
 
our 2 senators and 1 congressman provided 3 separate lists of suggested character qualities for recommenders to comment. DS collapsed these 3 separate lists into one, added this list to a brief paragraph of request which included a 'hall of honor' description of USMA, and a subtle 'please hustle' reference to deadlines, and printed this for his recommenders who were to complete the MOC required letters of recommendation. Our 3 MOC all had different methods of forwarding these letters - one required online upload, another snail mail, another email. Had we known all this ahead of time, he would have added a heads up to the responders to save the letters for copy paste tasks. In addition the 3 MOCs did not open up their instructions for applying until half way through the summer, so there was no heads up on what to do before school dismissed for the summer. DS would have - completed the CFA - requested letters of recommendation - and requested SOPs before summer. As it turned out, all SOPs were green Xd by September, but one SOP was red Xd and required another teacher in late January, DS waited until after football for the CFAS, which shunted his DODMERD exam into early December, which shunted his brace waiver to late January.
 
As said above, the academies really want teacher evaluations and these are on line. They are pretty straight forward and also say who needs to do them. Your DD will enter the contact information in his portal and each teacher will get an email to the system. They also take letters of recommendation but I am not sure these matter much. The challenge is the nomination process. Each MOC has a different process and it would be good to figure that out sooner than later. Some want the entire packet at one time, others will take it in parts. One of our reps wanted the letters of recommendation in the packet but also in a sealed envelope with a signature over the flap.
 
What if you do not know enough people in ech subject to get enough letters of reccomendation?
 
Start with the nomination process - its the critical path and most letters can be 're-purposed' as needed anyway for the SAs.

You can probably go online today to your Senators' and Representative's websites; most of them do a good job with the 'how to apply for a nomination' process.

One of our Senators specified that one letter had to be from a specific subject teacher, one from a principal/counselor, etc etc.

Our Rep said he would prefer letters from someone that really knows you vs the President of a Company etc etc. [My son used his 5 time little league baseball coach for example and received nominations to 2 SAs from that Rep.]

Also due to the insane rush of college apps many teachers and counselors consolidate all their students' requests into a couple weeks of letter writing in Sept. timeframe; of course yours may vary but don't be surprised if this is the case.

[Hint: you can't tell people what to write but the SAs like to see evidence of leadership and character; this is not always the template for 'top college' letters of recommendation. Does not hurt to let folks know, some have never encountered an SA candidate before.]

So - do your homework and follow all the instructions; its a long grueling process and a mountain of paperwork and checklists. Pay attention to the details!
 
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