Service Academy Day

[Yacht Rock]

DS is current sophomore at boarding school on east coast. We live in NH. He will apply to USNA and USMA during the fall of senior year.

Senators Shaheen and Ayotte are holding a NH Military Service Academy Day on May 9th 2015, which will also include the attendance of representatives from the USMA, USMMA, USAFA, USCGA, and USNA. "For students who are interested in obtaining Service Academy Nominations from the NH Congressional delegation and for those interested in attending any of our Nation's Service Academy's." Staff from NH Congressional districts will also be there. Since DS is at boarding school, he will need to fly back to NH and will miss athletic commitments, which is a non-issue. He wants to attend this meeting, believing it's not too early to start the process. My take is this NH Service Academy Day is for rising seniors vs. juniors and thus he should wait to attend in May 2016. Please note that he will apply to SLE and SS next year also. I'm posting in USNA forum since his preference right now is USNA. Thoughts? How important is it for him to attend this Academy Day?

 

[Spud]

A Service Academy Day is strictly an informational get-together for the benefit of potential candidates. It is PR for the Academys, it is lots of PR for the local politician showing he/she doing things for their constituents, and it does offer the candidates a chance to personally meet some of the people who will handle their files during the application process which is not bad. It is open to really any high school student who might be interested in the Academies and information on the Academies and the application process will be offered. If your son does not attend the session it will have absolutely zero influence on whether he gets appointed. If he can, there is good information to be had but the same (and more) information can be had in the book: The Naval Academy Candidate Handbook: How to get in and how to survive by Ross. Available for $20 on Amazon. The other books are not worth the money.

 

[USNA 19 DAD]

DS is current sophomore at boarding school on east coast. We live in NH. He will apply to USNA and USMA during the fall of senior year.

You and your DS will want to begin the process before the Fall of his senior year. In fact, you should try to have everything but the nomination wrapped up by Sept-Oct. It's a very long process, and since you will be at the mercy of several teachers and HS staff for references and records; the earlier the better. Good luck to your DS!!

 

[USNA_Dad2019]

Agree with USNA 19 DAD, the goal should be to have everything wrapped up by Sept-Oct of DS senior year. The application process is long, and being "finished" by that time will allow your DS to focus on the nomination process, which can get pretty time consuming depending on the MOC.

To your original question, I don't think the SA Days have much impact on the nomination process. My DS attended the SA Day sponsored by our MOC three times. There were probably a couple hundred kids trying to get a minute of face time with the Congressman, so I don’t know how helpful attending was, from the nomination perspective. DS actually spend more time with the MOC and staff during Boy’s State and a leadership conference. On a side note, DS actually received his nomination from one of our Senators. The SA Day MOC he had the most interaction with deferred to the nomination he already received from our Senator. That Congressman had one of his nominees receive an appointment also, so it worked out well for both MOCs and applicants.

We did have the chance to talk with current mids and parents at the SA Day, which was helpful. But I don’t know if it would be worth flying in your DS and his missing school/athletic events to attend. Much of what you would learn could be gleaned from this forum and “The Naval Academy Candidate Handbook” referenced above. I agree with Spud on that one. It’s the best book we found, and definitely worth a read.

 

[MJP]

Our Ds attended one of these USNA events in N.CA towards the end of his Junior year. Like USNA_Dad said, there was a room of maybe 200 kids, all vying for time from the various school repersentatives, BGO's, Mids etc... there were no MOC's present. Lot's of long lines and your DS can always reach out to his RD and MOC's to let them know he'll be applying and explain his current situation. They would completely understand if he was not there.

On our end, the event was very informative for DS as he did get to talk to several BGO's, a couple of Mids, an RD and the officer above his RD. He had a prepared resume they could look at and hd conversations with them about the school, what he wanted to be doing and his background. They told him they appreciated a resume that was a concise, one page summary of his academics, eca's, awards, and work experience that they could work off of.

He felt it was a good experience and as a dad, I watched him grow from me having introduced him to a BGO next to us, to him working the room and meeting everyone he could. It was fun to watch and he came away with the sense that he was a viable candidate for admission.

We're still in the waiting mode so no appointment yet.

Good luck!

 

[SNF6]

More than likely, there will also be representative of the ROTC from local colleges and universities. My son actually spent more time with them than he did with reps from the SAs. Also, there may be some current SA students and parents there to talk with. As a father, I spent most of my time talking with the parents who had DS or DD attending an SA. And I suggest you start the SA process very early. We started January of my DS junior year, I have always felt we should have started earlier, there is so much to learn and do.

 

[kctlaw]

During the fall of my daughters Junior year she had contacted the Congressman and the Senators to let them know that she would be applying to the academies and to basically introduce herself. They asked her to submit her resume even though it was too early to begin any applications. In the Spring, she did attend the Service Academy Day for our area. The Congressman's aides had her name on a list and checked it off when she introduced herself. They were familiar with her which made quite the impression on us. They told her they were impressed with the fact that she had started so early, it showed them her desire and commitment. By the time the interviews came around she was very comfortable and her interviews went extremely well. I'm sure not all areas are the same but she ended up receiving a nom and had no problems, ever, calling the Congressman's office to talk to the aide that she had become quite familiar with and she enjoyed talking to her as well.