LOE & LOA
- Thread starter jasper1
- Start date
Although it is not made public by USMA, on Oct 22 my FFR told me 19 LOA’s have been issued across the entire United States.
BeanBoi45
USAFA ‘25 | USNA & USMA Appointee
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I highly doubt this number. At my school alone, me and a peer of mine have received LOAs. We received them before September of this year.
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Why would the FFR lie about this or give false information?
I am just stating what my FFR told me, I highly doubt he would give me false information.
Lucyloo3452
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I have also received an LOA. A very small fraction of total candidates are on this forum and I highly doubt that if that number was factual there would be so many on SAF.
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This has been endlessly discussed, and it is indeed possible that there have only been 19 LOAs even if it is improbable.
The overall stats, qualifications and likelihood of admission for the population on SAF is really not representative of the population of applicants in general.
TB_Rays
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I would also assume that USMA would be trying to lock down CCs that are promising and have strong test scores with LOAs given the uncertainty in this year. If anything I would assume there are probably more LOAs on the table at this time than in years past.
FFR's do not have direct access to that number. They can only see LOA's for candidates in the districts they represent. An FFR with data on LOA's for the entire country would have gotten that figure from the RC or another admissions officer.
19 total LOA's at this time, if correct, is more likely to be be the number excluding recruited athletes and diversity candidates. Otherwise that would indicate a horrible recruiting year for Army sports. It could also be the number for the FFR's districts/region.
Although anything is possible with respect to the pandemic, in my opinion USMA would not vary significantly from past practice in issuing LOA's, at least this early in the process - the process is regulated by law and overuse of LOA's could put admissions in a bind in meeting class composition goals.
The significance is that you have been given encouragement by your RC. That may turn out to be worth a lot, or it might not.
The LOE recipient is invited to encourage interest and to help him/her make a good and informed decision if offered an appointment. The CC is generally not being evaluated on the overnight. However, he/she may have an opportunity to meet the RC for his region.
WestPointHopeful2025
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I emailed my FFR asking for a sort of 'heads up' on LOA's. She said across the United States there have been 19 sent out, so maybe she was lying too, but I highly doubt that an admissions representative from West Point would provide false information or lie.
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I don't think anyone would lie or give false info either. I do know that, like in all other endeavors, people are sometimes mis-informed or are unable to see the entire picture from their vantage point.
The LOE is an affirmation that your file is, or may be, competitive. The only tangible benefit of an LOE is that it authorizes an overnight visit. The LOE does nothing for your WCS score, which is the only item under your control that matters.
Slots for visits are limited and therefore only authorized for candidates with a decent chance of appointment. An overnight visit by a competitive candidate increases the chance that a candidate will accept an appointment if offered, or may recognize that USMA is not the right place for them. Either case benefits USMA.
FFR's are alumni volunteers. While they represent admissions, they are not admissions officers and do not have near the knowledge of the inside workings of admissions as an RC.
FFR's do not have direct access to the number of LOA's throughout the country - they can not look in a database and see that number. It could be correct; admissions could have sent an email out with that information or it could have spread word of mouth. It could be incorrect, the result of miscommunication (especially if it spread word of mouth).
Assuming it is correct, how does that change a candidate's situation? It doesn't. There is not some predetermined number of LOA's sitting in admissions waiting to be issued.
So are you saying we should take what FFR's say with a grain of salt or remain skeptical to information they provide to us that we may not be able to see in a quick google search?
No, you should not infer that FFR's do not have valuable input.
The bottom line is that the number is irrelevant, whether or not correct. It is simply a surprisingly low number.