DS will begin 2028 application for USMA on Feb 1 and is aware that he can select to apply for SLE at time of beginning application process. He was told to apply early to be considered for SLE and wants to be prepared to complete that right away. Will Letters of Recommendation be needed to be accepted into SLE? He would like to reach out to potential supporters now so they would be prepared once process goes live. Anything else he can do in advance of Feb 1 to get ahead of things? He has already been laying groundwork for a MOC recommendation.
SLE application
- Thread starter Rambler
- Start date
OneFiveThree
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- Sep 10, 2022
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No. No LORs were required for me when I went to SLE. Maybe just work on your SAT scores/academics/CFA beforehand.
It seems like if you are already focused on getting LORs you should be in a good place.
It seems like if you are already focused on getting LORs you should be in a good place.
DS reached out to his field force and following was his highlight:
"Work now on improving your qualifications:
- academic - take both the ACT and SAT, and re-take them; excel in your classes
- leadership - both athletic and non-athletic activity, with leadership roles
- physical aptitude - engage sports, prepare for the Candidate Fitness Assessment"
The two primary controllable factors for acceptance to SLE are good test scores and early application. There are many other factors in gaining an appointment, but SLE has limited space, begins making selections early, and relies on minimal and mostly self reported data.
newcadet2027
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- Jan 15, 2023
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- 22
As the others have mentioned, SLE does NOT require LORs for the application. However, with that in mind, I would recommend that your DS begins asking his teachers for LORs early on.
The USMA application itself does not *require* letters of recommendation to be considered, instead they go off of School Official Evaluations from the teachers which are confidential and will never be shared with your DS. However, in my experience, letters of recommendation usually are a requirement for nomination sources. I earned four total nominations, one congressional, two senatorial and one from my JROTC unit. All of my congressional/senatorial recommendations required two school related LORs addressed to the representative and an additional LOR from another non-school related source (i.e coach, boss, church minister or other).
I asked my teachers for LORs and notified them about SOEs towards the end of my junior year. By the beginning of my senior year, all of my teachers had both written me an LOR and completed my SOE's. That alone ended up being a tremendous advantage regarding my admissions chances as I was able to fully complete my application around late September. This also meant that I was sent to medical early and deemed fully qualified in the beginning of December. Additionally, there is an option to upload letters of recommendation to the West Point portal. This is optional and not required, but taking the initiative to provide supplemental material is always a good thing. I recommend your DS requests LORs addressed to both the nomination sources and the "United States Military Academy at West Point Admissions Committee" just so that he has the option to upload an LOR that is properly addressed.
A polished application that is submitted early will always be better than the exact same application submitted right before the deadline. I wish you and your DS the best of luck!
