That is disappointing your experience implies (1) the RC's favor people that have the time and resources for a face to face meeting (2) who you know matters vs what the candidate brings to the table.
Not saying your experience was not as reported, I just think it is a shame if true and seems to violate what USMA says.
I disagree, and I am not sure why you imply that "who you know" matters. The briefings are set up for candidates and their families to visit and learn about West Point. One of the RC's is assigned to be on duty that day, not only to give the presentation, but to meet with candidates who wish to take the time and speak with the RC. It is something that WP makes available, and having experienced the admissions process at USMA, USNA, and USAFA, with my son who successfully went through the whole thing with all three, I can say without hesitation, West Point's admissions team does things the best by far. No one is required to do the briefings, and it will neither help nor hinder the application. But if you want to know where you stand, being in an office face to face with an RC provided the most open and candid information.
I don't know what you mean when you say it violates what USMA is saying. Are they telling you that they don't do the morning briefings, or that there wont be an RC on duty to meet with the candidate? That would shock me, since my son is a Plebe, and this all happend with him just last year. My son and our family knew no one at WP before he was appointed. We had and have no inside connections. We didn't get good information about where my son stood in our district, or what he needed to focus on because we were insiders. They do this for all the kids who come and ask. There were several others who waited after the campus tour to meet with the RC.
My son wanted to be a Cadet enough, and we supported his pursuit enough, that we made the visits; and enjoyed them as much as any road vacation we ever took as a family. We also visited a few other colleges he was considering, including USCGA and Yale. My son had limited time, as he was involved, like almost all academy candidates, in multiple sports and other school activities, had a job, and was taking hard classes. But he made time to do these trips. Perhaps that did show the RC's that he was a pretty committed kid, but it didn't add anything to his WCS. It just gave my son some peace of mind, and every time we went there he had more insight into which academy he might choose to attend.
Thinking back, I do recall that My son's RC did send an email telling him he was very competitive. The problem was that we didn't really know what that meant. There wasn't much perspective. We thought his application and his numbers were strong, but he never got even a LOE from WP, or from USNA or USAFA. When he visited the next time though we got full perspective, and he left with a smile.
We drove from the middle of Michigan, which is a long haul, and we visited WP three times I think. We also visited USNA during the same trips.
Some RC's are probably better about phone calls and emails than my sons. But either way its a very fair process.
