LOA?

The goal is admission, not LOA. My first cadet had an LOA, my second did not. Get your application finished ASAP and prep for the interviews w/ your MOC. Apply for all nominations you qualify for.
 
To your point, it is a Letter Of Assurance (LOA).
The LOA is a Conditional Offer of Appointment, which means that if you meet the condition(s) that are spelled out (Get a nomination, pass DoDMERB screening, etc) then you will
be offered an appointment. As @mom3boys so aptly puts it - your goal is the appointment - not an LOA.
Very few applicants get an LOA. The Admissions Board will decide from time to time to grant an LOA based on a stellar applicant's nearly-complete application.
As I wrote before, there are precious few of these and they are only granted in cases where the applicant has scored at the top level in nearly every category measured, and/or in other rare cases is a stellar athletic recruit.
We are talking (and it's pure conjecture) about 100 to 150 applicants to the incoming class will receive LOAs. Since the other 1,000 or so in the class do NOT receive LOAs, it is not something to hang your hat on.

Complete the application. Put your best foot forward, and let the chips fall as they may.
There are applicants out there every year who receive full-ride scholarships to Harvard and Yale, who do not receive an LOA, or an Offer of Appointment, for that matter.
 
This is absolutely true! And I feel that LOAs issued maybe less than 100 at each SAs. For most part in our District, there was only 1 LOA to each USNA and USMA, male and female. Not sure about USAFA and USMMA. I observed that in our district there are many who did not receive Appointment to SAs but got admitted to the Ivies and MIT. These were their plan B to these outstanding candidates. They were simply bumped by others who were better. Many are exceptionally talented high school students. Many wanted USNA and USMA but did not get, because Direct Appointments are very few to each SAs. Many Noms went to reapplicants: NAPSTERs, Prepsters, AOG, Foundations Scholars, Falcon Scholars, ROTCs. About 3 went to Direct Appointees with Noms from District Rep, Senator, Presidential for each SAs, so about 12 Direct Appointments. This seems about right.
 
Last edited:
That’s a greater use of LOA by USMA than USNA which is about half that. Clearly each SAs are different in handling LOAs.
 
Don't worry about an LOA. Put your brain power into successfully finishing your application, doing your best on the CFT and SAT/ACT, and esp. working on your nomination packets--which should be the absolute priority right now. Also, put some time into your Army ROTC application and PT test, and into applying to your four or five other colleges. You have a lot to do. The LoA is not the norm and is beyond your control--and really, while an LoA is the best 'sign' that you will be offered an appointment, remember that 1000+ kids are offered appointments without an LoA each year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top