USNA Class of 2027 Waiting and Speculating

My LOA showed up in my portal on Thanksgiving. I’ve heard conflicting advice about letting MOC offices know about the LOA — what do you all think?

The MOC nomination decisions will come out in mid December. I have a nomination from NJROTC but I’m from NOVA and want to have the best shot at an appointment since this is a competitive district. My plan B, C, etc. is ROTC (I found out about the Navy scholarship today :) and have AF and Army from the previous boards). Thanks!
It likely wont matter at this point.
 
My DD received an LOA to USNA before Thanksgiving also. Needless to say, lots of cheers in our household. Although she had already completed her congressional interview for the nomination, she sent it to the MOC office and it was received with enthusiasm. It caused the staff member to tell her early she was going to receive a nomination so I think they will want to know if you receive an LOA. MOCs want to nominate candidates who they believe will be accepted.
 
Lurker-no-more. Thank you for all of the many excellent posts that have answered many of our questions over the past year.

DD received her USNA Nomination from Senator Marco Rubio. [NASS 3, Inspire Program, CVW]
Go Florida!!!
 
Just to echo what several of the other parents of Plebes have said…. it is very hard to relax during this time period but now is a waiting game and a great time to relax and enjoy friends and family. Once your appointment is in hand you will have a list of things in your portal that will all need to be completed before reporting. As well, there will be a list of items to get for summer and physical preparation. Enjoy this time with family and friends! The old expression, “you don’t know what you have got till it is gone” is so true. Just those few extra hours to sleep in, your comfy bed, seeing friends on the weekends, siblings, and all the other small joys. Once you hit the academy, time will be your most valued commodity so enjoy these months before where you have time to spare and relax. Like many other parents have expressed on SAF, my DS wished he had spent more time enjoying family and friends before he left. He LOVES being at West Point and he has developed friendships deeper than any he has had before. He knows USMA is the place for him - hard as life is there - but, now is the time to enjoy that senior year, friends, family, and tell everyone what they mean to you and thank them for assisting you on getting to the point you are at.

Devour and enjoy this holiday season and last few months of civilian life. Thanks to each of you for you desire to serve and sacrifice. Just being a qualified candidate at any of the academies means you are in a very small group of the best of the best and that is something to be very proud of!
Good Luck!
 
My Son received a letter of assurance a couple of weeks ago. He also has in his portal a beautiful checkmark next to the Member of Congress recommendation which was preceded by a phone call from our HOR representative. He is also physically qualified. It seems as though the only thing that is pending is the DODMERB clearance. The next thing after that will be the appointment letter which should come, with the Good Lord's blessing is the actual appointment notice. I hope he hasn't overlooked anything but pretty sure it's all lined up.
We are extremely proud and wish everyone out there the best.
 
My Son received a letter of assurance a couple of weeks ago. He also has in his portal a beautiful checkmark next to the Member of Congress recommendation which was preceded by a phone call from our HOR representative. He is also physically qualified. It seems as though the only thing that is pending is the DODMERB clearance. The next thing after that will be the appointment letter which should come, with the Good Lord's blessing is the actual appointment notice. I hope he hasn't overlooked anything but pretty sure it's all lined up.
We are extremely proud and wish everyone out there the best.
Advise your son to monitor his spam email, as the appointment may come from a different email. I believe that was the case with mine. Although with the newer CIS, it could be populated there. Point is, it is delivered electronically way before snail-mail.
 
Advise your son to monitor his spam email, as the appointment may come from a different email. I believe that was the case with mine. Although with the newer CIS, it could be populated there. Point is, it is delivered electronically way before snail-mail.
Thank you for that bit of advice, will do.
 
Hello-this is my first post. My son is applying for the Naval Academy and just about everything is in, with just the fitness test and one letter of recommendation from his math teacher, who has told him will be done shortly. What was interesting is someone from the Naval academy reached out to him to ask him when he would get these two things in, which he replied should be shortly. I would speculate that the academy reaching out is a good sign. Thoughts on that?
 
Hello-this is my first post. My son is applying for the Naval Academy and just about everything is in, with just the fitness test and one letter of recommendation from his math teacher, who has told him will be done shortly. What was interesting is someone from the Naval academy reached out to him to ask him when he would get these two things in, which he replied should be shortly. I would speculate that the academy reaching out is a good sign. Thoughts on that?
Honestly, trying to infer anything is waste of brain power. BC it could be (I have NO IDEA) something as simple as his admissions rep tying up their open files. There is still a long way to go towards putting together the class. Get that stuff in, and good luck to him!
 
Hello-this is my first post. My son is applying for the Naval Academy and just about everything is in, with just the fitness test and one letter of recommendation from his math teacher, who has told him will be done shortly. What was interesting is someone from the Naval academy reached out to him to ask him when he would get these two things in, which he replied should be shortly. I would speculate that the academy reaching out is a good sign. Thoughts on that?
I echo @justdoit19. In my DS’s experience the admissions rep has reached out a couple times to check in or to encourage him to get things turned in. It certainly isn’t a bad sign but also probably not anything to read into.
 
Thanks for the input. My son did receive a Primary Nomination just recently, so I wasn't sure if it was coincidental that they reached out and whether it was typical that they do. I guess we will wait and see once everything else is in.
 
Thanks for the input. My son did receive a Primary Nomination just recently, so I wasn't sure if it was coincidental that they reached out and whether it was typical that they do. I guess we will wait and see once everything else is in.
If your son received a principal nomination and only has a few items outstanding he may be well on his way to receiving an appointment. You mention “just a fitness test” and a recommendation being needed. To me, this indicates that he hasn’t yet been physically qualified. No small detail. And, an unfinished math “recommendation” may leave him not yet academically qualified. Again, no small detail. These items ought to be completed for evaluation by admissions as soon as he can. I’m not a big believer in coincidence. While I wouldn’t always read a lot into the call, I would expect that admissions might be interested in wrapping things up where a principal nomination is involved. Still, despite the principal nomination, a good CFA and strong teacher evaluations are not minor details. So, good luck to your son on those remaining items.
 
If your son received a principal nomination and only has a few items outstanding he may be well on his way to receiving an appointment. You mention “just a fitness test” and a recommendation being needed. To me, this indicates that he hasn’t yet been physically qualified. No small detail. And, an unfinished math “recommendation” may leave him not yet academically qualified. Again, no small detail. These items ought to be completed for evaluation by admissions as soon as he can. I’m not a big believer in coincidence. While I wouldn’t always read a lot into the call, I would expect that admissions might be interested in wrapping things up where a principal nomination is involved. Still, despite the principal nomination, a good CFA and strong teacher evaluations are not minor details. So, good luck to your son on those remaining items.
It's likely that @dddad comments are on track. Best not to delay the Math Teacher 'evaluation' and CFA.
 
If your son received a principal nomination and only has a few items outstanding he may be well on his way to receiving an appointment. You mention “just a fitness test” and a recommendation being needed. To me, this indicates that he hasn’t yet been physically qualified. No small detail. And, an unfinished math “recommendation” may leave him not yet academically qualified. Again, no small detail. These items ought to be completed for evaluation by admissions as soon as he can. I’m not a big believer in coincidence. While I wouldn’t always read a lot into the call, I would expect that admissions might be interested in wrapping things up where a principal nomination is involved. Still, despite the principal nomination, a good CFA and strong teacher evaluations are not minor details. So, good luck to your son on those remaining items.
Think about it: a principal nom is someone they need to know if 3Q or not. And your son is technically 1Q, at this point, holding a principal nom. Makes sense.

I see you are new as of yesterday. If you are further curious about noms, suggest you read about what them on the top of the nominations forum. There are tagged threads that should assist with understanding.

Get finished up!
 
I will light a fire under him. It is a little harder for us to do so as he is 3 hours away going to a college prep military boarding school but will try to convey the need for him to get these two things done. His math teacher thinks the world of him (told us during a parent teacher conference), and I have no doubt will write a glowing recommendation. As for the physical test he should do pretty well, but he was so focused on all the other steps this sort of fell through the cracks. Plus being a Company Commander in charge of 30+ cadet's he doesn't have a lot of free time, even on the weekends. He told me he will take it next week with his JROTC advisor and we will see how he does. Fingers crossed.
 
Every year, Murphy of Murphy’s Law lies in wait for candidates who wait until December to execute their CFA (fitness test). Family emergencies, illness, injury, bad weather, sudden non-availability of the administrator or venue, derail the CFA plan, and candidates find themselves trying to explain to Admissions why they can’t meet a deadline known for months and begging for an extension, when their equally-busy equally-stellar competition has knocked it out in the past few months. I’m knocking on wood to keep Murphy away from your son, knowing it’s his own decision of when he takes it, especially since he has done well and gotten himself to an excellent situation with a principal nomination.

My first Navy boss, a salty former enlisted officer with 30+ years in the Navy, once told this raw young Ensign: “There may be plenty of good reasons for your failure to do X, but there is no String of Colorful Words EXCUSE.”

All you can do is urge him to get on with it. He’s in a very good position; all he has to do is just get remaining requirements done.

The principal nomination essentially forces a service academy to offer an appointment to a candidate, if the candidate has been found fully qualified (medical/DoDMERB, physical/CFA, academic/all other evaluated areas), regardless of how USNA has ranked applicants on that slate. Interestingly, the statutory language governing USNA differs from the other service academies, allowing them to disregard the principal nomination. Typically, though, USNA will respect it, as long as the candidate is fully qualified, in the interest of maintaining status quo with elected officials.

And welcome new member of less than 24 hours! Pro tips: As another poster mentioned, read any pinned posts at the top of Forums. There is also The Acronym List findable from the home page.
 
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My son got an LOA for c/o '25 in November of that cycle. He did not get a nom. He got his TWE in the last wave in May for that entrance year.

Lesson learned? You can not count on a appointment until you see it there in your portal.

Knock your nomination interviews out of the park, and be sure to let them know you have an LOA that is only pending on the nomination (didn't help my son - we are in a super competitive district and the nomination team may have just figured the Academy would find one for him - but it is still a critical thing to mention).
Wished I had read your post before our interview. Struggled with “should we flex the LOA” thing or not. Landed on doing it opportunistically and the opportunity didn’t present itself. Meanwhile, we wait for dodmerbs…...
 
Mine spent Thanksgiving with his incredible adopted sponsor family. Coming home isn't really doable on the short Thanksgiving weekend. Christmas break is just around the corner and the hugs that come with it.
DH is still on active duty and just received 2yr accompanied orders to the Middle East starting in the summer. I'm already sad about not seeing DS next Thanksgiving 😭 but just the timing of plebe parents weekend, we are season ticket holders, even attending I-day, all in jeopardy if he ends up being accepted. Plenty of friends and family to step in but no matter where he lands, feeling really emotional about missing him next year! Taking him to Philly this weekend to spend some quality time together and forget applications for a couple days!
 
Why would someone not talk about a LOA? You don't have to over do it...but these interviews are all about making sure youre a good fit for the SA...a LOA says just that.
 
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