LOA question

mnsallot

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Sep 11, 2017
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My son received an LOA in September stating that "The Admissions Committee has recommended you for an appointment to the the United States Military Academy (USMA). Accordingly, I have reserved a cadetship for you contingent upon receipt of a nomination, medical qualification, physical qualification, continued excellent work in school and file completion. You must sent the Admissions Office your CFA results, the School's Official Evaluations, and the Candidate Statement by November 04, 2017 or this letter of assurance will be withdrawn. When these matters are resolved, you will be appointed a member of the USMA Class of 2022".
Is this what all LOA's say?
We are awaiting a waiver for shoulder surgery he had in 2016 that he has been completely cleared from and a failed hearing test that he has since passed with flying colors.
He is also being recruited to wrestle. Previous state placewinner and currently ranked 4th in the state.
He received a nomination from our congressman but has not heard from either senators.
He is ranked number 1 in his class and has a current GPA of 4.8 and a cumulative of 4.5895. He has taken every AP class available and attained an A in each.
He scored above average in all areas of his CFA.
Varsity team captain x 3 years. National Honor Society. Class President.
I realize it is difficult to determine if he will receive the waiver, but does anyone have any guidance or insight into things he needs to do to make his complete package more competitive? Do all applicants who receive a LOA gain an appointment if they comply with requirements or do they still compete with other candidates? Does any one think he has a good chance of receiving a waiver?

Thank you in advance for any guidance or input!
 
My DS received an LOA last year with the same language and his only hurdle was the waiver. The waiver process was long but in the end he obtained his waiver and received his appointment as outlined by the LOA.

Since your son has a nomination (I assume he completed the November 4th requirements) then the only thing remaining is the waiver. Having an LOA should automatically put him in for consideration for a waiver. Just make sure that any information that is requested is sent quickly and completely.

There is no need to worry about improving his already stellar package or even obtaining an additional nomination. He should just stay focused on finishing his senior year in strong fashion, staying healthy/training for Beast and not getting in to trouble. Best of luck!
 
My DS received an LOA last year with the same language and his only hurdle was the waiver. The waiver process was long but in the end he obtained his waiver and received his appointment as outlined by the LOA.

Since your son has a nomination (I assume he completed the November 4th requirements) then the only thing remaining is the waiver. Having an LOA should automatically put him in for consideration for a waiver. Just make sure that any information that is requested is sent quickly and completely.

There is no need to worry about improving his already stellar package or even obtaining an additional nomination. He should just stay focused on finishing his senior year in strong fashion, staying healthy/training for Beast and not getting in to trouble. Best of luck!
I agree, but I will add that he needs to work on his Plan B in case the medical waiver is not granted. Nobody here can speculate if the waiver will be granted as we don't have access to his medical files. Since they gave him the LOA, they obviously want him to be a part of the class, so if they feel he can perform physically to the level they need him to as a cadet and as an officer, then they will grant the waiver. He seems like a stellar applicant.
 
I received a waiver, but I was also an LOA holder without a waiver just a few months ago. It was granted only a week or so after I found out I'd received the LOA...I don't know if the two events are correlated, as I am not West Point admissions, but my "condition" (I'm putting it in quotations because I don't exhibit any symptoms of what DoDMERB said my problem was) met the requirements for medical access to West Point and the Army. So having an LOA may or may not have sped up the process of my receiving a waiver. Of course, I think it pushed me up in the line of kids waiting on waivers, but, again, I don't know.
 
If your Ds is a recruited athlete, have him reach out to the coach and let them know he is hung up in DODMERB. Often times they may be able to help getting the approval pushed through.
 
Thank you everyone! We have submitted the required AMIs from DODMERB and I check every day to see if there is anything else they are requesting. He had everything submitted by the November 4th deadline. The waiver process began on November 28th. It states it can take up to 90-120 days for review and determination if they will grant the waiver. I'm just being a mom...he wants to sign his letter of intent and focus on maintaining being valedictorian. This is so stressful.
 
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