Liason Officer Interview Issue

turtle7584

turtle7584

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2019
Messages
86
Hello all,

I'm almost done with my application (only have to do Writing Sample and an Evaluation), so on September 24th I reached out to my Liason Officer scheduling an interview.

"Dear ...,

my name is ... and I am currently a candidate for the USAFA C/o 2024 ... I'm reaching out to you in regards to possibly scheduling a meeting between us? .... I look forward to hearing from you! ... "

Since then, I've received no reply from my designated officer (Oct 3rd) . I understand that ALOs have other duties and priorities but I am conflicted on sending a second email? Waiting longer? Contacting my region counselor?

Thank you!
 
I Don't even have my interviewer labeled on my portal yet. I would send another email. If in a week they don't respond, call the regional counselor.
 
@turtle7584 Your ALO might not be your interviewer. First I would say you should have been in contact with ALO before now but secondly it says on the handbook you must compete all items in the portal. Secondly, it also says your assigned elevator will reach out to you withen 2 weeks.
 
Handbook states:
"Once you have completed all of your required forms, your assigned Evaluator will contact you within two weeks to coordinate and schedule your personal interview/evaluation. Please note, the Mentor ALO and the Evaluator will be different individuals. The name and contact information for your Evaluator can be found in your portal in the “Evaluator” block. NOTE: Until you complete all required items, this field will remain blank. "
 
With us, DS finished his application in early October but he didn't have his interview until almost Thanksgiving. We were worried because that was after his deadline of Nov 1 but his admissions officer said not to worry as long as everything else is done by the deadline. It is not uncommon for it to take several weeks to schedule the interview once your application is complete.
 
Hi all!

First...your "regular" (read: MENTOR) ALO will NOT be your interviewer. Once you have reached a certain number of completions in your list of things to do (like ALL of them), the system will trigger the 4060 interview requirement. That will trigger the assignment of an Evaluator ALO. They will just "show up" on your portal.

Then it's up to YOU to contact them. I wouldn't wait. As both a mentor and evaluator ALO, I give my candidates about two weeks to reach out to me. Then I will reach out to them. Of course, by then I have a LOT of questions: how badly do you want this? Why didn't you contact me? Why...why...why.

Be proactive, especially when you're finishing up...check the portal twice a day.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
flieger83 is correct. Your mentor ALO posted on your portal is supposed to mentor you about the Academy and prepare your for the evaluation by the evaluator ALO. Reach out. Mentor ALOs are required to check thier portals and contact you. If this does not happen after two e-mails, contact your Admissions Counselor at USAFA. Be polite and not impatient. While mentor ALOs should be reaching out to the candidates on thier list, sometimes they have other job and family responsibilities. Failure to contact you after two weeks, however, is concerning.
 
Your interviewer will be someone else other than your ALO. I just did this. They should give you a call when you are halfway to 3/4 of the way finished with your application. They have a deadline too, so they will reach out to you.
 
I only have 2 things to complete other than the evaluator (CFA and essays) and have been this way for 2 1/2 weeks. I have not received any communication regarding the interview. Should I reach out to my admissions counselor/mentor ALO?
 
20avva said:
I only have 2 things to complete other than the evaluator (CFA and essays) and have been this way for 2 1/2 weeks. I have not received any communication regarding the interview. Should I reach out to my admissions counselor/mentor ALO?
Click to expand...
No.

The academy will trigger your interview timeline when you have completed your paperwork. The counselor won't do anything and your mentor ALO can't do anything.

Finish the CFA and essays...the evaluator ALO will then "appear" out of the ether!

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
flieger83 said:
No.

The academy will trigger your interview timeline when you have completed your paperwork. The counselor won't do anything and your mentor ALO can't do anything.

Finish the CFA and essays...the evaluator ALO will then "appear" out of the ether!

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
Click to expand...
Thanks!
 
How critical is it to contact the mentor ALO? My son is a reapplicant. His ALO wasn't very involved last year. Some of his emails went unanswered and he found the answers elsewhere.
 
BravoFoxtrotEcho said:
How critical is it to contact the mentor ALO? My son is a reapplicant. His ALO wasn't very involved last year. Some of his emails went unanswered and he found the answers elsewhere.
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Contact the ALO. If you receive no answer in a week, query again; if that goes unanswered, then reach out to the Liaison Officer Director for that state. Or, if that's unsuccessful, you can contact me and I'll help with what I can do. I'd also recommend, if it gets that far, to contact the USAFA counselor that's assigned and update them on the issue.

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
BravoFoxtrotEcho said:
How critical is it to contact the mentor ALO? My son is a reapplicant. His ALO wasn't very involved last year. Some of his emails went unanswered and he found the answers elsewhere.
Click to expand...
First, as a grad and former ALO - I am sorry that this was your experience. Most serve as an ALO to give back and really want to help. As for the importance of direct contact with the assigned ALO for the school, I would say that this is less important under the current structure of the ALO program as it relates to the candidate interview. Previously, when the assigned ALO was the interviewer, an established on going dialog could prove useful and would certainly make the candidate interview less stressful for the candidate because of their familiarity with the interviewer. Today, you are assigned a random ALO for the candidate interview. This does not mean you should not try to communicate with the assigned ALO. We are a resource to help students with questions about the process and the school. Forums like this provide one avenue for getting questions answered, but the assigned ALO should be yet another resource. I hope you get your questions answered - and like Steve said, you can always asks us as well.
 
Thank you @flieger83 and @shiner. He really doesn't have any new questions since he's a reapplicant and knows the process. I was pondering whether not contacting the ALO would be frowned upon.
 
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