timeline for letter of assurance

jerryseinfeld

jerryseinfeld

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May 7, 2024
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I know the application season is still early and that applicants should submit the best application possible ASAP. Is the admission committee already reviewing submitted applications? Is there a timeline when LOAs are released? Are some LOAs already released?
 
jerryseinfeld said:
I know the application season is still early and that applicants should submit the best application possible ASAP. Is the admission committee already reviewing submitted applications? Is there a timeline when LOAs are released? Are some LOAs already released?
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During last application cycle, I believe LOAs were first issued in July.
 
DrMom said:
Do not think about LoA. Think about submitting your best packet. An LoA is not required for admission. Focus on the appointment, not the LoA.
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Truly, if your packet would be better once you start in September and are 'annointed' captain of the football team, then wait until that happens.
 
LOAs are a tool used by Admissions whenever and by whatever criteria they wish to use, anytime in the cycle. As noted by others, that is not the goal. Typically most cadets and midshipmen do not receive LOAs.

You must be deemed fully qualified with a nom to compete for a full offer of appointment. Fully qualified = medical (DoDMERB), physical (CFA), and academic/scholastic (everything else they evaluate in your application).

Even if you receive an LOA, you must still be fully qualified with a nom. Therefore, that is the goal to shoot for.

There are those who submit their strong applications in late summer/early fall, get noms, pass the CFA and DoDMERB, can still wait until late spring for news. They may receive an appointment. They may not. There is not enough room in the class for every fully qualified candidate with a nom.

Even with an LOA, no nom usually means no appointment. DoDMERB DQ or CFA fail, no appointment. The ticket into the arena is a quality application submitted as early as makes sense, being fully qualified and earning a nom(s). Think strategically on your timing.

Your focus right now is applying for every nom for which you are eligible, per service academy recommendations, which at a minimum is usually 3 MOC and VP, plus any others. Precisely following nom application instructions, submitting quality essays, preparing and practicing for any interviews. If you haven’t taken the CFA, preparing for that, with a target date in mind well before the due date, to allow for illness, injury, bad weather, family emergency, sudden unavailability of administrator or venue. During this time you should also be developing your alternate plans for ROTC and civilian colleges.

You cannot do one single thing about whether you receive an LOA. But you can invest time and effort into all the action items for your application.

Good luck!
 
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Thank you everyone. Understood. The intent is to get 3Q and then hope for LOA, and use LOA to leverage MOC nom. Is that crazy?
 
jerryseinfeld said:
Is that crazy?
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Alittle. You are making a bunch of assumptions on several different points of the application process. Submitting your best application doesn't always mean ASAP. Getting a application in early does not increase your chance at a LOA. A LOA might have 0% chance of getting a MOC nom. SA's can give LOA's anytime they want too. Read what Capt MJ speaks about carefully above. Focus on the aspects of the application process you control. Don't worry about the rest. It will only increase your stress level and be no benefit to you getting a appointment.

Good Luck!!
 
jerryseinfeld said:
Thank you everyone. Understood. The intent is to get 3Q and then hope for LOA, and use LOA to leverage MOC nom. Is that crazy?
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The intent should be to submit the absolute best package possible. The presence or lack of an LOA is not really relevant. Lots of applicants are accepted to multiple SAs without having a single LOA. Applicants with LOAs fail to receive nominations and applicants with LOAs and nominations also fail to gain admission. There is no secret sauce to success except for being the most qualified candidate you can be in order to maximize your chances both inside and outside your various slates.
 
jerryseinfeld said:
Thank you everyone. Understood. The intent is to get 3Q and then hope for LOA, and use LOA to leverage MOC nom. Is that crazy?
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Not crazy! Even West Point admission sent out email encourage my son to schedule FFR interview (along with sending 6th semester transcript, SAT) to complete the minimum requirement for consideration of LOA. As it has been said many times, LOA is SA class building tool -- but it should not be applicant's goal.
SAT, 6th semester transcript and FFR interview (my son did not attend SLE) -- if these are ready to go --- then why not to have a shot on LOA ?
 
jerryseinfeld said:
Thank you everyone. Understood. The intent is to get 3Q and then hope for LOA, and use LOA to leverage MOC nom. Is that crazy?
Click to expand...
That’s assuming a MOC nom review group says, “Look! A LOA! We had better give this candidate a nom!” You might run into the MOC nom review group that says, “USMA has this candidate a LOA. They can find him/her a nom. We will give our noms to those who don’t have LOAs.” To be fair, reports of these are much rarer.
 
In my opinion only - the MOCs don’t necessarily care about LOAs. It’s just another data point. But what does matter - whatever was on the resume that earned an LOA in admissions’ eyes, is the same package of information MOC’s base their decisions on.

Obviously in very competitive districts - some great candidates (even with LOAs) fail to get nominations.

Luckily my son and I never knew what an LOA was when he applied.
 
Nobody applies for LOA, it comes from SA admission. That is why candidates should NOT think of LOA at all --- In the application process - candidates should always submit their best applications.

However, if SA (like West Point) encourages applicants to fulfill some minimum requirement to be considered for LOA, such as submit 6th transcript (which is just as easy as to send a submission link to the school counselor), and test score (if it is ready), and FFR interview. LOA can be issued even before school official evaluations (math, english, physics/chemistry and PE)

LOA does give a candidate confidence and incentive to put more efforts to complete application. In my son's case, he would not have gone to an army base 4 times (pretty far away) to complete his CFA if he were not given an LOA from West Point. He had passed USNA's CFA -- he would just have counted on that -- which he failed.
 
jerryseinfeld said:
Thank you everyone. Understood. The intent is to get 3Q and then hope for LOA, and use LOA to leverage MOC nom. Is that crazy?
Click to expand...
If you are 3Q you do not need an LoA. Do not think about LOAs. You can have an LOA and then never become 3Q. If you have an LOA, you can share the news in your applications to your member of Congress and Senators--but don't bank on having one.
 
Agree w/ what others have said, work for your best application, do not worry about LOAs. That being said, I do believe some MOCs consider LOAs but a word of warning on that below.

This is just anecdotal and may not apply to your district/state, but happened to DS. DS had LOA to USMA but not USNA when applying to Congressperson, so listed LOA to USMA prior to Congressperson interview and on application. DS did not list USMA as first choice but had USNA as first choice (for Congressperson and both Senators)[Sorry, wrong forum to say this]. Congressperson, influenced by LOA, awarded nomination to USMA and DS ended up receiving appointment to USMA (great, but still not his first choice). After receiving this USMA appointment, DS was awarded LOA to USNA, his first choice, and he was hoping to get nomination from Senator(s) to USNA. Senators (who obviously interacted w/ Congressperson), did not award nomination to USNA to DS, saying one nomination was already awarded and they don't award multiple nominations to candidates. With some last minute scrambling and talking w/ both Senators offices, explaining that his first choice was not awarded, one Senator somehow scrapped together a nomination to USNA (still don't know the details on how this happened as supposedly all nominations were already awarded). DS subsequently received appointment to USNA and is there now.

Had my son tried to game the system by listing different first choices w/ different MOC offices, I doubt he would have received that Senator nomination. Moral of the story, when applying to MOCs, do not suggest trying to game the system w/ different first choices to different MOC offices. Based upon DS experience, we suggest being consistent w/ order of preference across all MOC offices.
 
Really appreciate the feedback and anecdotes. 3Q is definitely the goal with LOA as a bonus, and not the other way around.

I think DD is doing everything she is supposed to do but this process is very competitive. Everyone's info and encouragement certainly help this journey as this is our first rodeo.

By the way, she used the link below to estimate her WCS percentile and got 85-90%. Does anyone think this is an accurate calculator? Is this a good tool for others who post "chance me" in the forum? Is WCS at that range good enough?!

(And for full transparency - she does not use this service or any other paid service.)

www.gainserviceacademyadmission.com

West Point Admissions Calculator – What Are Your Chances?

We created a calculator to give you an idea of your chances of appointment from West Point admissions. Find out your Whole Candidate Score!
www.gainserviceacademyadmission.com www.gainserviceacademyadmission.com
 
jerryseinfeld said:
Really appreciate the feedback and anecdotes. 3Q is definitely the goal with LOA as a bonus, and not the other way around.

I think DD is doing everything she is supposed to do but this process is very competitive. Everyone's info and encouragement certainly help this journey as this is our first rodeo.

By the way, she used the link below to estimate her WCS percentile and got 85-90%. Does anyone think this is an accurate calculator? Is this a good tool for others who post "chance me" in the forum? Is WCS at that range good enough?!

(And for full transparency - she does not use this service or any other paid service.)

www.gainserviceacademyadmission.com

West Point Admissions Calculator – What Are Your Chances?

We created a calculator to give you an idea of your chances of appointment from West Point admissions. Find out your Whole Candidate Score!
www.gainserviceacademyadmission.com www.gainserviceacademyadmission.com
Click to expand...

Those calculators are meaningless.

How does her WCS/WPS compare to others on her slates?

Some will get in with lower scores. Some will not get in with higher scores.
 
True - but comparing others in your slate is also meaningless because you can't control others. Just have to keep getting better. To DD's credit, she went from no pull-ups to 2 thus far. That alone is not going to earn her anything but she will be a better athlete this year bc of CFA.
 
jerryseinfeld said:
Really appreciate the feedback and anecdotes. 3Q is definitely the goal with LOA as a bonus, and not the other way around.

I think DD is doing everything she is supposed to do but this process is very competitive. Everyone's info and encouragement certainly help this journey as this is our first rodeo.

By the way, she used the link below to estimate her WCS percentile and got 85-90%. Does anyone think this is an accurate calculator? Is this a good tool for others who post "chance me" in the forum? Is WCS at that range good enough?!

(And for full transparency - she does not use this service or any other paid service.)

www.gainserviceacademyadmission.com

West Point Admissions Calculator – What Are Your Chances?

We created a calculator to give you an idea of your chances of appointment from West Point admissions. Find out your Whole Candidate Score!
www.gainserviceacademyadmission.com www.gainserviceacademyadmission.com
Click to expand...

This is much more reliable source


there is a section detail how LOA is distributed
 
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