Should I get a congressman letter of recommendation?

A

alpha2716

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I talked to cc today and they said letters of recommendation aren't required but are recommended. Would a letter of recommendation from my local representative strengthen my application?
 
An LOR is best from someone who truly knows you.

A well written letter from a coach or clergyman who can expound on specific anecdotes is superior to a generic letter from a politician or two star general.
 
If you are applying for an Army ROTC scholarship LORs aren't required, and I would be surprised if they even get looked at. Most of the scholarship winners I see don't have any LORs uploaded into their App. Board members spend a week reviewing thousand of files. They barely have time to review the required information.

Focus on getting as much quantifiable information that indicates you are a Scholar/Athlete/Leader into the actual application. Use the Additional information block under the essay tab to highlight anything you didn't check a block for on the previous tabs. It looks like they have added a second essay this year, so one more thing for the board members to read instead of LORs that are obviously going to say nothing but nice things about the applicant.

My advice is don't waste time on LORs for the Army ROTC process unless you have something extraordinary
 
clarksonarmy said:
If you are applying for an Army ROTC scholarship LORs aren't required, and I would be surprised if they even get looked at. Most of the scholarship winners I see don't have any LORs uploaded into their App. Board members spend a week reviewing thousand of files. They barely have time to review the required information.

Focus on getting as much quantifiable information that indicates you are a Scholar/Athlete/Leader into the actual application. Use the Additional information block under the essay tab to highlight anything you didn't check a block for on the previous tabs. It looks like they have added a second essay this year, so one more thing for the board members to read instead of LORs that are obviously going to say nothing but nice things about the applicant.

My advice is don't waste time on LORs for the Army ROTC process unless you have something extraordinary
Click to expand...

So you're saying cc gives you the option but in actuality you shouldn't use time on it
 
I'm saying I have been working with the applications process for over 10 years and the vast majority of the winners I see each year don't have any LORs in their application.
 
I read that to mean spend MORE time on SAT or ACT prep and less time worrying about the LOR for AROTC.
 
My Staff Sergeant for Future Soldier Training called in and formally made a recommendation for me. I also uploaded a letter of his.

Not sure how it ranks on the importance scale, but my guess is pretty high. If you could get something like that, then I don't see why it would be overlooked.

I got a 3 year Army AD scholarship, btw. Of course, I don't know the reasons for why they chose me, but I would put as much in to your application as you can.
 
Alpha...I know you are a little new to the process, so here is a some insight into the process. Check out this blog post

https://goldenknightbattalion.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/the-whole-person-score-what-is-it/

What you will see is that out of the 1400 potential points only 350 (the boards score) could even be effected by an LOR.

So how does a board member score your file?? I'm just taking my best guess, but I'm thinking they probably see the same thing I can see, and I would hope they don't print all these files out. They are going to first look at the basic data (GPA, class rank) they may look at the transcripts to see what type of classes you are taking and how your grades are. They are going to look at your activities (all those blocks you checked on the ap), they are going to see your essays, and if you used the space they are going to see your additional information. They are going to use all that information to give your file a score, and the scores of all the board members are going to be rolled into a board score.

So, again I say I don't see where an LOR is going to be a difference maker. If it makes you feel like it's going to give you an edge feel free. Of my 10 scholarship winners from last year's process only two even uploaded LORs, and I'm confident one of the two wasn't impressive enough to make a difference.
 
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