Letters of Recommendation

[Heatherg21]

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I have been hearing contrasting information regarding the LOR sources.

Do you know if West Point requires a LOR from a PE teacher or Athletic director? Or can it be from a school sports coach?

I can only speak to the last cycle. Our DS had to have math, English, and physics teachers submit evaluations (form emailed to them by the SA's). His pe teacher did his CFA and submitted his scores. They aren't what you would consider traditional letters of recommendation. His guidance counselor also had to submit information.

I do recall the instructions being very succinct. Our DS printed them for each SA and referred back to them many times. When all else fails, follow directions.

 

[westpointdreamer2004]

I can only speak to the last cycle. Our DS had to have math, English, and physics teachers submit evaluations (form emailed to them by the SA's). His pe teacher did his CFA and submitted his scores. They aren't what you would consider traditional letters of recommendation. His guidance counselor also had to submit information.

I do recall the instructions being very succinct. Our DS printed them for each SA and referred back to them many times. When all else fails, follow directions.

I've been looking through the West Point website and can't seem to find the directions for that aspect of the admissions process. Do you know where I can find such information?

 

[Heatherg21]

Yikes, my gut says it was within the application itself, once you were a candidate and had an open application. But that was almost 18 months ago, it could 1, have changed, or 2, my memory fails.

 

[ilovebrownbears]

+1 @HCopter re the large whiteboard. Our DS used a four-foot by four-foot board and a three-ring spiral notebook w/ dividers.

Each SA (he applied to 4) and NROTC, civilian schools, and nomination source had their own section of the binder. Each communication was noted w/ date, passwords, login info, dates test scores were sent, ordered, and received were noted. Dates he requested (input teacher's email into the portal for evaluation) were entered and each follow-up communication was listed. Communication with POC at each MOC office was listed and emails with read-receipts were sent to confirm applications had been received and were complete prior to closing dates.

Test CFA stats were recorded and as he trained and improved they were updated.

Having a resume as a living document that is continuously updated is key. It will make all applications including scholarships easier to complete, dates, and details ready at hand.

Years ago a good and wise friend suggested that my kids keep "yea, ME!" binders. From Freshmen year on, they kept each award, accomplishment, events attended, seminars, school events, volunteer hours, etc. Definitely made it easy to refer back to when completing applications.

Shoot. A 'yeah, me' binder would have been a great idea... a little late for me now. Luckily I remember the majority of awards I've received, but I've never recorded volunteer hours. I've always been of the opinion that trying to rack up hours leads to dishonesty (after observing classmates and such). I do volunteer, though- with boy scouts, local libraries, farmers markets, etc. Will USNA ever request a specific number of volunteer hours?

 

[HCopter]

@ilovebrownbears It's all about what you did, how you changed the world, and impacted your community with the service hours you spent. It's never too late to start documenting your accomplishments, plus you'll have to do it at an SA as well!

Back to OP topic: Sorry if I confuse anyone with the loose terms of "letters of recommendation" and "essays". I term LOR anything that your recommender/evaluator has the option of writing a sentence or comments, such as an SOE or similar. And I use "essay" to mean anything the candidate has to write a grammatically correct sentence, such as a short answer question or even briefly "describe in 100 words or less".