Reapplicant LOA

SAHopeful2021

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Joined
Mar 10, 2017
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I reached out to my BGO yesterday to introduce myself and begin the process with him. I sent him a resume and statistics from my 2021 file. After discussing an interview timeline for late June or early July, he said to finish my application as soon as possible. Can someone explain why? I understand that college reapplicants do not get evaluated until the the spring semester so this did not make sense. Maybe I'm being a bit too optimistic, but he is not thinking about an LOA opportunity this early in the cycle right? Anything is appreciated, thank you.
 
Don't read into this. He is just recommending you get it done. LOA or not, your application won't be reviewed until 1st semester grades are received. I would also recommend for you to think about your essays and other items and how you will make them stand out and different than last year. If that means waiting a month or two into college then do that. You are going to grow a lot over the next few months, your essays and application should reflect this.
 
Read the sticky about Reapplication above. Admissions is not even going to look at you until the 1st Semester is done, so an LOA is unlikely. Keep in mind there was something in you application this year that held you back from the coveted Appointment. Assuming you were 3Q, it may have simply been that other candidates on your Nomination slate this year were more competitive, but everyone has some room to improve. Don't rush the application, submitting the same information , and expect a different result . There is an old cliche that the definition of insanity is repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Your objective is to improve the application and stand out, and the best way to do that is to use your experience in college ....start strong, take tough classes,and kick a$$. After a few months of college, you can include your lessons learned in your personal statement, and talk about your experience in your BGO interview. Good luck.
 
In terms of "Candidate Activities Record" and "Candidate Academic Information," are college re-applicants still expected to use their high school guidance counselors? I know that for the Math/English recommendations, the USNA prefers to wait until you can use college professors, but I am trying to figure out how much of my application I can get finished soon so as to be able to have enough progress to meet with my BGO for an interview in the near future. What I guess I'm mostly asking is, what is to be completed by high school staff/faculty and what is to be completed by college staff/faculty?
 
Did you read the sticky? Lots of this is detailed in there.

Also, what new activities are you going to do in college? ROTC, volunteering, maybe some thugs within ROTC, maybe an intramural or club on campus. Make sure you make this leap and include these items. For reapplicant she this isn't a race.m as mentioned as USNA won't review until 1st semester grades are received.

I get your BGO is saying get it done, but read the comments. What is different now than when you did this last year? Sure you completed senior year and got a TWE and have learned a lot from that, but what about going away to college, learning some life lessons, possibly some rotc lessons (if you are doing that) and college lessons to beef up your interview, essays, Nom packet.
 
Several points. BGOs know (or should know) that USNA doesn't review packages of college students until at least late January and thus there is no rush for college students to get stuff complete. Because of that, they should be more flexible about granting an interview before most of the package is complete -- i.e., different standard for h.s. seniors and college applicants. That said, the BGO may also want to give you some time to mature as a college freshman and also to be sure that you intend to complete your reapplication -- you'd be surprised how many people can't wait to reapply in June and can't imagine changing schools come October. You should have Thanksgiving and even end of semester break to meet with your BGO in person and BGOs again tend to be pretty flexible with college folks who live some distance away. You can also do Skype -- perfectly acceptable if your timing doesn't mesh with that of your BGO for an in-person meeting.

As for recs, USNA will take senior teachers IF you didn't use them for your initial application. IOW, they don't want another set from the same teachers. They strongly prefer college prof recs and would prefer you wait until later in the first semester to submit these so they can be from your profs. If you're in a large lecture class, you'll need to figure out ways to make yourself known to your prof. so that he/she can write a rec that says something meaningful about you.
 
^^ I agree. If you got the TWE last time, I think your are reading too much into what the BGO told you and an LOA shouldn't be your focus. If you rush to apply now, then nothing really has changed from the resume you previously submitted that resulted in the TWE.
 
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