class of '09 admissions

[hopeful09]

Wanted to get some feedback on getting an appointment for the class of 2009. In the admissions catalog and other information I have read, there is talk of letters of assurance (LOA's). How common are these LOA's. If the Academy uses a rolling admissions policy and qualified candidates have their application packet completed and submitted in September; does the Academy make a decision on these candidates and issue LOA's figuring they will get the remaining requirements (medical exams, and nominations) by spring of '05?

Also, how much weight is given towards candidates that attended the Summer Seminar?

 

[smittyrunr]

Yes, the LOA says the admissions board has found you academically and physically (in terms of the PAE) qualified and you will be accepted assuming you are medically cleared and get the nomination. You are not officially Appointed until you get everything. I have never heard of anyone receiving a LOA and not getting a nomination. If I remember correctly, my package was in by the end of September, my physical was actually already done and cleared by then, I got the LOA in early November, but my congressman didn't even hold interviews until the end of January.

I only ever heard of people who had attended Summer Seminar receiving LOAs. I'm not saying they were given any special consideration, they just had the opportunity to get the package early and get it done. Not everyone who went to NASS got one.

Good Luck.

 

[flynhi]

No, you won't really receive any special concideration going to SS. I went last year and received a nomination and still didn't get an appointment. Trying again this year, but this is the last. There's more than one way to skin a cat. Sorry, I meant one way to get a commission.

 

[Machine]

The key is to get your application in as soon as possible. If you get a LOA, then bring it in to your nomination interview. The congressman really wants to make sure he's not going to nominate someone who isn't going to get in and graduate. If you show early on that you have the right stuff, then there shouldn't be a problem getting a nomination.

 

[CommodoreMid]

I received an LOA to USNA, class of 08, and I had been rejected for the Summer Seminar! I got a nomination a couple weeks after receiving the LOA, but sadly I was denied a medical waiver, so I'm doing NROTC. Just finish the paperwork as soon as you get it, and know that antidepressant use is disqualifying and unwaiverable until you've been off for a year (wish they had told me that last summer, I could have been off in time to go in with 2008!).