Letters of Recommendation

That is so true. The recommendation letter has to come from someone who really knows you and can speak to the traits that they feel qualify you for whatever you want to do.
All my life, I have always learned the custodian's names and talked to them. The usual response from them was that no one did that, and they normally felt invisible.

All anyone will have that is really dear to them when they die, is the memory of the love they have given and received and the relationships they were lucky to have.
All the material "stuff" doesn't make a bit of difference. The sooner you come to that realization, the better off you'll be.
 
Unable to read the link, but as an FWIW , there are multiple threads on this Forum about Letters of Recommendation for USNA. Bottom line, USNA asks for an evaluation from Math/English teacher -- I've never actually seen the form, but my understanding that it asks for evaluation on a handful of specific characteristics. USNA does not require, ask for, or even want Letters of Recommendation.
 
Old Navy BGO is spot on there.
The letters of recommendation that my DS used, were only for MOC nomination applications.
 
The letters of recommendation that my DS used, were only for MOC nomination applications.

Putting my cynical hat on here -- MOC are by definition, political animals. While most are pretty good at picking the cream from the top of applicant pool (I have never seen a TOP 5% BGO Evaluation not get a Nomination), but by nature they will take political gain whenever the opportunity offers. While the first criteria for a LOR is certainly that the writer actually know the candidate, it certainly does not hurt if the MOC recognizes who the writer is, ie. some high muckety muck in the State or Congressional District. All LOR essentially say the same thing -- you would never ask someone to write a LOR if its bad --- so the LOR written by the Mayor or Business Leader (aka potential campaign donor) is going to carry more weight than the LOR written by the football coach.

For those candidates (and parents) that don't know the high muckety muck... don't sweat it ! I have seen plenty of candidates from small rural towns that don't know anyone rich and famous get in, and frankly, don't recall ever seeing a strong candidate not get a nomination. (I am from a largely rural area.....not one of the uber competitive regions). That's why most MOC use the competitive nomination process--they can minimize the appearance of favoritism and politicizing the process.
 
Then there is a whole big world of stuff out there that neither my DS or I ever thought of. He only got teacher recommendations and one from a coach!
We know some high muckety mucks (I laughed when I read that by the way, it was like "whoopsie daisies", which means that you an I are not Spring chickens anymore) - but they don't know my DS - so that never seemed like a good idea to me.
 
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