LOR Question

[Picaroon]

One area where I feel I'm a bit behind for my BDCP app is letters of recommendation. I can't really think of anyone to do one for me. The teachers who I connected with were in high school; I take big lecture classes in college, so I'm just another kid out of hundreds.

I fear this will hurt me a lot when everyone else seems to have some important military guy writing one. I chatted with a family friend who was a Naval aviator and I believe retired as Commander, and got some great stories and information--an amazing guy. He offered a letter if I ever needed one, however, the last time I spoke to him before this was years ago. He knows me pretty well through my parents, but I'm not sure if it would be a fair thing for me to do to ask him to write me a letter when I've only actually met him in person a few times in my life.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I won't be looking for LORs for about six months, but I'm just having trouble thinking of anyone outside my high school years who could write me a good letter. All of my Boy Scout contacts, teachers who really knew me, or anything like that would be people I last really had contact with at best 2 years before I will need my LORs.

Thanks

 

[WVUBetaHornet]

I chatted with a family friend who was a Naval aviator and I believe retired as Commander, and got some great stories and information--an amazing guy. He offered a letter if I ever needed one, however, the last time I spoke to him before this was years ago. He knows me pretty well through my parents...

Soooo what's the problem here??

In all honesty, you would be dumb not to pursue and utilize this valuable resource; if he's offered to write you a letter if ever you'd need one...definitely take advantage of that. It doesn't matter that you haven't talked with him in awhile, why else would you have any need to communicate with him except for this specific matter?...I'm sure he would be happy to hear that this is the direction you want to take with your life, and as a result I wouldn't see why he wouldn't write you an LOR, Having a Commander recommending you certainly wouldn't hurt you in any way.

You mentioned you were in college...a great person that will usually help you out with such things as recommendations and endorsements for your future conquests would be your academic adviser; these people stick with you throughout your entire college career, know the classes you've taken, and meet with you face to face at least once per semester, they are most likely to know you best (excluding small-class professors).

Well, that's 2 LORs down right there...one more and you're set, just take some time and really think about any credible persons that would help you out; ask around and network all that you can, nothing bad ever came from hard work...exert yourself and you won't be disappointed.

Good luck

 

[Sly1978]

I'm guessing that this will probably get shut down (search LOR and you'll find a bunch of posts). Before it does, though, let me reiterate that the LOR is not a chance for you to impress the board with who you know. It is designed for the board to get to know you. Only one of my letters came from someone who had been in the military and he was only an enlisted Marine some 30 years before he wrote the letter for me. If you had high school teachers that you were close to, have one of them write a letter. Ironically enough, the afore mentioned Marine was my ninth-grade geography teacher that I had stayed in touch with.

A good rule of thumb somebody once told me when getting LORs:
Get one from someone associated with you through education (teacher, counselor, etc.)
Get one from someone associated with you through work (boss, supervisor, etc.)
The last one should be someone who knows you personally (family friend, clergy, etc.)

Follow those guidelines, and the board will have a well-rounded view of you. Don't stress that you don't know some admiral or senator. Heck, I still don't know any admirals or senators and I think I'm doing just fine.

 

[Tom]

I'm guessing that this will probably get shut down (search LOR and you'll find a bunch of posts). Before it does, though, let me reiterate that the LOR is not a chance for you to impress the board with who you know. It is designed for the board to get to know you. Only one of my letters came from someone who had been in the military and he was only an enlisted Marine some 30 years before he wrote the letter for me. If you had high school teachers that you were close to, have one of them write a letter. Ironically enough, the afore mentioned Marine was my ninth-grade geography teacher that I had stayed in touch with.

A good rule of thumb somebody once told me when getting LORs:
Get one from someone associated with you through education (teacher, counselor, etc.)
Get one from someone associated with you through work (boss, supervisor, etc.)
The last one should be someone who knows you personally (family friend, clergy, etc.)

Follow those guidelines, and the board will have a well-rounded view of you. Don't stress that you don't know some admiral or senator. Heck, I still don't know any admirals or senators and I think I'm doing just fine.

Yep.

 

[CalPolyPilot]

I just finished submitting my app. and I ended up with seven LORs even though I only planned for the three required. I sent out the form to the three required people: my work supervisor, the professor of my aircraft manufacturing class, and my best friends dad who has known me for 10+ years. Then, just in case I sent out the forms to anyone I could think of that knew me well. And to my surprise I ended up with three more outstanding LORs from my dads cousin who is retired Air Force, a high school teacher, and my flight instructor.

So my point is, send the form to everyone and anyone who you think might give you a good recommendation. Oh, the seventh LOR, in case you were wondering, was from a E2-C Hawkeye Pilot at Pt. Mugu NAS in California. So if you are in frequent contact with your recruiter and close to a NAS ( I was 3 hours away), my recruiter really stressed getting an interview with a Pilot Commander because Pilot Commanders are on the selection board. I mean who knows, it might have some pull it might not; but, If you want it bad enough, do whatever you can to better your chances.

Good Luck

 

[CaptainRon]

I didn't believe it until I actually got to Pensacola and saw all the people down here, but it is true: they look at the whole package. In other words, everybody down here has their weaknesses. Some have bad ASTB scores but did a kickass job as prior enlisted guys. Others had mediocre GPAs and rocked the ASTB.

Regarding applications in general, a lieutenant gave me some great advice today. He said you work hard for years to build your resume (with the Navy or wherever) and allow yourself to put these things on your application. The board, unfortunately, does not know you and can only judge you from what they see on this application. So, do not half ass any part of it. Make sure it looks PERFECT and proofread it over and over. Find and remove all simple mistakes like typos so that they don't have a reason to think you are unmotivated. Basically, it may be a very competitive applicant pool and simple mistakes can ruin a board's impression of an individual despite years of hard work.

 

[Picaroon]

Hey, this is a pretty old post. Thanks for the replies guys.

An update:
I'm finalizing my LORs at the moment, and my package should go before the April board.

 

[CalPolyPilot]

Picaroon,

My app. package will also go in front of the board in April. Good Luck!!!

 

[SWCS242]

I didn't have any LORs, just people that filled out that ref. sheet, and I still got accepted BDCP. I am not saying not to get letters, but if you have a strong application otherwise, the letters are only part of the application process. They obviously can't hurt though.

 

[sadjsd05]

Thought I'd try to help people with LORs that have no direction at all:

http://www.npc.navy.mil/CareerInfo/...ement/Officers/FTSOfficers/OfficerProgram.htm