When did your son finish the checklist in his portal? I finished mine a week ago, just waiting for the LOA.
You may want to adjust your expectations. I’ll paste in some notes below about LOAs:
Keep in mind:
- Most midshipmen (or cadets) did not receive an LOA.
- On the appointment lists posted here on SAF every year, you might see more LOAs than you would expect. It’s a very small data slice; roughly 10-15% of the appointees in a class at a DoD SA find their way to SAF to post. That group is likely skewed toward appointees and parents who lean far forward searching the internet for information that might provide an edge in the application process.
- USNA can give an LOA at anytime they wish in the cycle, to anyone, for any reason. It is a class-building tool. It is not to be expected.
- LOAs given early in the cycle often have a condition(s) to fulfill - nom, DoDMERB clearance, CFA, etc. Late in the cycle, one might be given to urge the candidate to be patient and continue to check the portal.
- It is quite possible to receive an LOA and no offer of appointment, if a condition(s) is not fulfilled.
- The goal is an offer of appointment, not LOA.
- Every year, there are more candidates who have completed their checklists, have been found fully qualified, and have a nom, than there are seats in the class. Fully qualified = medical/DoDMERB Q or a waiver; athletic/CFA; academic/scholastic/all the other evaluated elements.
- Resist the urge to look left or right at other applicants. Someone with a “lesser stat” than you may receive an LOA. You cannot see the totality of their application and all its graded elements, nor do you know how or why USNA is using the LOA.
- And finally, I can’t resist my usual practice of describing the LOA as a unicorn. If one wanders into your portal, rejoice. But don’t spend any time on thinking about how to attract or capture one.
