LOA v. No LOA

IronmanDaremo said:
And a LOA is still no guarantee if all the requirements are not met. My son received one to the USNA in November of last cycle, and even told all three of his nomination interview panels he had received one. But he still did not get a nomination there, only to the USAFA (and USMA, to which he did not even apply). The admissions team worked to see if there were any others available to him, but in the end he still received a TWE and didn't get in.

We'll see how this year goes as he is applying as a college re-applicant (and currently as a college programmer in his NROTC unit - that means he is participating in the unit while not on scholarship). He won't even be considered by the admissions board until his Fall transcripts are sent in. No LOA this time!

Focus on the appointment and putting in your best application. LOAs are a mystery and no guarantee.
Click to expand...
I’ll be thinking the best for your son. My DS, now a 2/C, to this day says that not getting in the first time was the best thing that ever happened to him. The growth in that year of NROTC is huge and pays off in plebe summer and year. He still sees the advantage of the extra year each semester in different leadership opportunities. I sincerely hope your DS enjoys that same perspective soon. ;)
And I hope to join you on I-Day w my DD!
 
To the OP and others that may benefit in the future:
It should be uncontroversial that a worthy goal for recruitment is for the demographics of our enlisted corps of the military to closely resemble the demographics of the country. It should then follow that the demographics of the officer corps should ideally resemble the demographics of the enlisted corps. These goals can provide challenges to recruitment for a number of reasons.

A Letter of Assurance or LOA is one tool available to the academies to help them meet their class composition goals.

If we imagine the appointment process as each academy owning a fleet of 24 busses each holding 50 people (for a 1200 class size total) then we can make the following assumptions about the assignment of each bus as it is dispatched (by admissions) to go around the country and gather the desired class. (The numbers don't matter and it is a bit more complicated than this but it may help you understand the LOA better).

2 busses will be dispatched to gather athletes that the coaches desire
2 busses will be dispatched to the Active Duty Military to gather enlisted members
2 busses will be assigned to gather African Americans
2 busses will be assigned to gather Hispanics
2 busses will be assigned to gather Asians
3 busses will be assigned to gather other Under-Represented Minorities (URM)
1 bus may be assigned to gather extremely scholastically gifted candidates
10 busses will be assigned to gather other fully qualified candidates

It is also desirable that each bus contain a certain percentage of females and have candidates from all of the geographic areas of the country. Again the numbers/ratios are unimportant for this exercise and they change over time.

The 10 imaginary busses for "other fully qualified candidates" are pretty easy to fill year over year. All of the other busses can present challenges.

The LOA is like a letter from the bus dispatcher (admissions) that says we think you would fit nicely on one of the busses we have and we will give you a ride back to our academy IF you complete certain requirements AND you obtain a ticket to ride. The "tickets" are called nominations and are controlled by various sources as defined by law. The LOA is really only needed to help overcome the challenges presented in filling some of the historically harder-to-fill bus seats.

You can imagine that if you have an LOA but no nomination or "ticket" whether or not they can "find" a nomination source for you is highly dependent on if there are any seats left on the bus they were hoping to assign you to. If that bus is already full, it is probably unlikely, just know that it is not personal. If the bus is still empty...well, maybe they can use a discretionary nomination. It would be logical to assume that the more LOA that are issued, the less likely, in general, it would be to "find" a nomination for any individual LOA holder that did not earn one on their own.

For a candidate that doesn't hold an LOA the process is kind of reversed. The dispatcher says "if you want to come here, go get a ticket (nomination), and then we will select which of the 10 ticket holders from your neighborhood (or nominating source) get to ride."

The worst two parts about the LOA are the impression it can give to candidates that DO NOT receive one and the impression it can give to those that DO get one. Remember, as soon as you take the oath, not one person you come in contact with will care whether you had an LOA or not, (unless you make it a point to tell them...then they will likely care a great deal, but you might not benefit from their "caring"). If you think in terms of the exercise above, perhaps the 'luster' of the LOA is not quite as bright and shiny as you thought it was.

I would like to offer the same advice I have given my son since he first desired to be selected for something. Be the obvious choice. If you want to be Class President, Captain of the chess team, 1st chair in an orchestra, hired for a position, or a varsity letter winner, find out the selection criteria and become the obvious choice. Let everyone else compete for 2nd place, your only competition is with yourself. You should always be asking yourself some version of "Is that the best you got?" If you have an LOA, nice, great, congrats...now be the obvious choice for a nomination. No LOA? Be the obvious choice.

If your intermediate goal is attending an SA, it should be related to your end goal of being an incredible officer. If so the criteria for selection can be pretty well inferred from each SA's class portrait or profile. Remember, don't compete for the average place or "meet the mean". Be the obvious choice.

FWIW my son fit squarely on the "other fully qualified candidates" bus, did NOT receive an LOA, was NOT selected for NASS but was fortunate enough to receive a principal nomination USNA and apparently won the slate for another.

Good luck and work towards your goal every single day.

Be the obvious choice!
 
Gobsmacked said:
To the OP and others that may benefit in the future:
It should be uncontroversial that a worthy goal for recruitment is for the demographics of our enlisted corps of the military to closely resemble the demographics of the country. It should then follow that the demographics of the officer corps should ideally resemble the demographics of the enlisted corps. These goals can provide challenges to recruitment for a number of reasons.

A Letter of Assurance or LOA is one tool available to the academies to help them meet their class composition goals.

If we imagine the appointment process as each academy owning a fleet of 24 busses each holding 50 people (for a 1200 class size total) then we can make the following assumptions about the assignment of each bus as it is dispatched (by admissions) to go around the country and gather the desired class. (The numbers don't matter and it is a bit more complicated than this but it may help you understand the LOA better).

2 busses will be dispatched to gather athletes that the coaches desire
2 busses will be dispatched to the Active Duty Military to gather enlisted members
2 busses will be assigned to gather African Americans
2 busses will be assigned to gather Hispanics
2 busses will be assigned to gather Asians
3 busses will be assigned to gather other Under-Represented Minorities (URM)
1 bus may be assigned to gather extremely scholastically gifted candidates
10 busses will be assigned to gather other fully qualified candidates

It is also desirable that each bus contain a certain percentage of females and have candidates from all of the geographic areas of the country. Again the numbers/ratios are unimportant for this exercise and they change over time.

The 10 imaginary busses for "other fully qualified candidates" are pretty easy to fill year over year. All of the other busses can present challenges.

The LOA is like a letter from the bus dispatcher (admissions) that says we think you would fit nicely on one of the busses we have and we will give you a ride back to our academy IF you complete certain requirements AND you obtain a ticket to ride. The "tickets" are called nominations and are controlled by various sources as defined by law. The LOA is really only needed to help overcome the challenges presented in filling some of the historically harder-to-fill bus seats.

You can imagine that if you have an LOA but no nomination or "ticket" whether or not they can "find" a nomination source for you is highly dependent on if there are any seats left on the bus they were hoping to assign you to. If that bus is already full, it is probably unlikely, just know that it is not personal. If the bus is still empty...well, maybe they can use a discretionary nomination. It would be logical to assume that the more LOA that are issued, the less likely, in general, it would be to "find" a nomination for any individual LOA holder that did not earn one on their own.

For a candidate that doesn't hold an LOA the process is kind of reversed. The dispatcher says "if you want to come here, go get a ticket (nomination), and then we will select which of the 10 ticket holders from your neighborhood (or nominating source) get to ride."

The worst two parts about the LOA are the impression it can give to candidates that DO NOT receive one and the impression it can give to those that DO get one. Remember, as soon as you take the oath, not one person you come in contact with will care whether you had an LOA or not, (unless you make it a point to tell them...then they will likely care a great deal, but you might not benefit from their "caring"). If you think in terms of the exercise above, perhaps the 'luster' of the LOA is not quite as bright and shiny as you thought it was.

I would like to offer the same advice I have given my son since he first desired to be selected for something. Be the obvious choice. If you want to be Class President, Captain of the chess team, 1st chair in an orchestra, hired for a position, or a varsity letter winner, find out the selection criteria and become the obvious choice. Let everyone else compete for 2nd place, your only competition is with yourself. You should always be asking yourself some version of "Is that the best you got?" If you have an LOA, nice, great, congrats...now be the obvious choice for a nomination. No LOA? Be the obvious choice.

If your intermediate goal is attending an SA, it should be related to your end goal of being an incredible officer. If so the criteria for selection can be pretty well inferred from each SA's class portrait or profile. Remember, don't compete for the average place or "meet the mean". Be the obvious choice.

FWIW my son fit squarely on the "other fully qualified candidates" bus, did NOT receive an LOA, was NOT selected for NASS but was fortunate enough to receive a principal nomination USNA and apparently won the slate for another.

Good luck and work towards your goal every single day.

Be the obvious choice!
Click to expand...
Do you work in admissions - or connected somehow?

Congrats to your son!
 
Last edited:
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and in-depth answer. This really helps me understand the Admissions side of the process! I appreciate your insight and kind words.
 
Gobsmacked said:
To the OP and others that may benefit in the future:
It should be uncontroversial that a worthy goal for recruitment is for the demographics of our enlisted corps of the military to closely resemble the demographics of the country. It should then follow that the demographics of the officer corps should ideally resemble the demographics of the enlisted corps. These goals can provide challenges to recruitment for a number of reasons.

A Letter of Assurance or LOA is one tool available to the academies to help them meet their class composition goals.

If we imagine the appointment process as each academy owning a fleet of 24 busses each holding 50 people (for a 1200 class size total) then we can make the following assumptions about the assignment of each bus as it is dispatched (by admissions) to go around the country and gather the desired class. (The numbers don't matter and it is a bit more complicated than this but it may help you understand the LOA better).

2 busses will be dispatched to gather athletes that the coaches desire
2 busses will be dispatched to the Active Duty Military to gather enlisted members
2 busses will be assigned to gather African Americans
2 busses will be assigned to gather Hispanics
2 busses will be assigned to gather Asians
3 busses will be assigned to gather other Under-Represented Minorities (URM)
1 bus may be assigned to gather extremely scholastically gifted candidates
10 busses will be assigned to gather other fully qualified candidates

It is also desirable that each bus contain a certain percentage of females and have candidates from all of the geographic areas of the country. Again the numbers/ratios are unimportant for this exercise and they change over time.

The 10 imaginary busses for "other fully qualified candidates" are pretty easy to fill year over year. All of the other busses can present challenges.

The LOA is like a letter from the bus dispatcher (admissions) that says we think you would fit nicely on one of the busses we have and we will give you a ride back to our academy IF you complete certain requirements AND you obtain a ticket to ride. The "tickets" are called nominations and are controlled by various sources as defined by law. The LOA is really only needed to help overcome the challenges presented in filling some of the historically harder-to-fill bus seats.

You can imagine that if you have an LOA but no nomination or "ticket" whether or not they can "find" a nomination source for you is highly dependent on if there are any seats left on the bus they were hoping to assign you to. If that bus is already full, it is probably unlikely, just know that it is not personal. If the bus is still empty...well, maybe they can use a discretionary nomination. It would be logical to assume that the more LOA that are issued, the less likely, in general, it would be to "find" a nomination for any individual LOA holder that did not earn one on their own.

For a candidate that doesn't hold an LOA the process is kind of reversed. The dispatcher says "if you want to come here, go get a ticket (nomination), and then we will select which of the 10 ticket holders from your neighborhood (or nominating source) get to ride."

The worst two parts about the LOA are the impression it can give to candidates that DO NOT receive one and the impression it can give to those that DO get one. Remember, as soon as you take the oath, not one person you come in contact with will care whether you had an LOA or not, (unless you make it a point to tell them...then they will likely care a great deal, but you might not benefit from their "caring"). If you think in terms of the exercise above, perhaps the 'luster' of the LOA is not quite as bright and shiny as you thought it was.

I would like to offer the same advice I have given my son since he first desired to be selected for something. Be the obvious choice. If you want to be Class President, Captain of the chess team, 1st chair in an orchestra, hired for a position, or a varsity letter winner, find out the selection criteria and become the obvious choice. Let everyone else compete for 2nd place, your only competition is with yourself. You should always be asking yourself some version of "Is that the best you got?" If you have an LOA, nice, great, congrats...now be the obvious choice for a nomination. No LOA? Be the obvious choice.

If your intermediate goal is attending an SA, it should be related to your end goal of being an incredible officer. If so the criteria for selection can be pretty well inferred from each SA's class portrait or profile. Remember, don't compete for the average place or "meet the mean". Be the obvious choice.

FWIW my son fit squarely on the "other fully qualified candidates" bus, did NOT receive an LOA, was NOT selected for NASS but was fortunate enough to receive a principal nomination USNA and apparently won the slate for another.

Good luck and work towards your goal every single day.

Be the obvious choice!
Click to expand...
this is brilliant
 
LOAs didn't exist in my day. They came about due to the emergence of Early Decision / Early Action for civilian schools. Great candidates could apply to a civilian school and have a DECISION by the end of December (if not sooner). How could SAs compete with that, given the fact that MOC nominations aren't required to be submitted until Jan. 31? They believed (rightly or wrongly) that great candidates were passing on a SA (with an unknown outcome) for the certainty of a civilian decision months earlier. Not to mention that medical might not clear until well into the next calendar year. Why not take the certain slot at "Great University" and be done with it?

Hence, LOAs were born. An LOA represents the very best a SA can do for a great candidate from an admissions standpoint. It is the SA's guarantee of admission regarding everything they can control. However, they can't control medical or (to some extent) nominations, so that's always the "gap." When an MOC doesn't "cooperate" by giving a nom to an LOA candidate (or has more LOA candidates than noms), the crunch comes. Given the nom system, SAs can't just "find" nominations for those folks, at least not in any significant number.

LOAs are not well understood (even by BGOs who have been doing this for years) in terms of why one candidate gets one and another doesn't. Some are given to heavily recruited athletes and some to desired minorities / underrepresented groups. Others go to candidates that are just outstanding across the board. And others?? Not a clue.

LOAs are a "golden ticket" until they're not. It can be very painful for those who don't receive them to understand why -- especially when they see someone they perceive to be "less qualified" obtain an LOA. It can be equally painful for someone with one (thinking they are golden) not to receive a nom or not to clear medical and and up with a TWE.

I agree with the above poster about controlling what you can control. My late mother put it a different way: "Do the very best you can do because it is all you can do." Sometimes that won't be good enough. Sometimes the outcome won't seem "fair." Welcome to life. But if you give it 100%, you will always know that you did your very best and left nothing on the table.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top