mombee

While the LOA letters themselves do not differentiate between 'athletic' and 'academic' LOAs, there are, in reality, both. Each sport is allocated a specific number of LOAs which it can utilize to recruit their most promising athletes. While they do have to meet the same minimum standards and go through the same process as everyone else, most would not have received an LOA based solely on their academics.

Whistle Pig

xchefmike has clarified the only point. There are no such things as "athletic" LOAs. LOAs may be extended for any number of reasons, athletics being but one. Thanks Mike.

JustAMomOf4

it's all semantics. If it would please the King and his Court I would gladly go back and amend my comment:
One received and LOA for superior academic, athletic and leadership performance and the other received an LOA as a blue chip recruit from the Athletic department.

That isn't even the point of the whole comment though. In case you missed it - some MOC's don't like Admissions telling them what to do and will absolutely refuse to Nominate a candidate with an LOA. They did due diligence and both candidates were admitted to the class.

itlstallion422

As I remember it (and this could be outdated) you could be either "recruited" for a sport or "coded" for a sport. Recruited meant you actually had an advantage in the admissions process and that a limited number could have this distinction, while coded was basically, at best a tie breaker. That being said, i have close friends who had LOAs in August of senior year as recruited athletes, however there LOA was not an "athletic" LOA.

Whistle Pig

That's what the fellow who pondered, "it depends on the meaning of 'the' ..."

And when logic and truth fail, shift the argument to redefine the language and shoot at the messengers.

To put this to bed, hopefully, remember the original point was to confirm or correct a statement made that stated in rather precise "semantics" ...

I believe Rocky the horse and Mike the short order cook have confirmed...there are no such things.

xchefmike

To Confirm this information I contacted a customer of mine who I met AFTER my son was a youngster. The person IS CURRENTLY ON THE ADMISSIONS BOARD.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN ATHLETIC LOA OR AN ACADEMIC LOA.
see stallions post about coded or recruited.

nuff said

Clif

JustaMomof4, if so those athletes should lose their eligibility under NCAA, in addition to the athletic department being fined if not worse.

Every varsity athlete I know has to go through the application process like everyone else except by being recruited, a completed application without medical hitches was a guaranteed appointment, while others had to wait to hear. Promising football players are sometimes shuffled to specific points of contact versus a local BGO, but their applications are similar if not the same. Which means getting a nomination like everyone else; it is possible, however, as mentioned above if the applicant is exceptionally qualified and without a nomination to procure one. That isn't just for athletes and is a rare occurence.

JustAMomOf4

what are you talking about?

I never said that athletic recruits did not have to go through the application process. Of course they do and anyone offered an LOA must go through the application process and be fully qualified.
It's well known that coaches make offers to players before the application process is fully completed. If they did not then they would be recruited away to other schools.
It has happened that athletic recruits do not pass the DoDMERB exam or become sick/injured before they report and then cannot matriculate.

There are legal nominations available to candidates who don't garner a Congressional Nomination - read the US Code, it is there and quite clear.

How do you explain the LOA in the spring of the junior year to a female high school soccer player who was recruited by the coach? Many sports start recruiting early and the Academies can begin recruiting earlier than other colleges.

beachmom

There are no special rules for recruiting athletes to service academies. The academies have to follow the same NCAA rules that other colleges follow. The coaches are limited as to dates, amount of contact, amount of time spent on the CVW, etc...

We brought our daughter up to see the swim facility during her junior year of high school, the coach let us know is no uncertain terms that he could not even buy her a soft drink during that visit. Her CVW (after she had received an LOA) had strict regulations on what she could/could not do with the team. Her visit had to end at a certain time, after which the coaches could not see her.

As parents of a Navy athlete, we are not allowed to have any contact with recruits who come to Annapolis for a CVW. The NCAA considers team parents to be "boosters" and as such, we cannot talk to recruits.

mombee

There are a few differences. For some sports, as JAMo4 states, NCAA modifies the initial contact date (Rule 13.16.1) and I think rules for the Letter of Intent apply differently.

And the entire recruiting process at a service academy can get murky. I am sure there are starting varsity athletes today who think they were 'recruited', who really were not.

Whistle Pig

I've a question re: athletes and NAPs (or Fdn schools) ...

How are these recruits "counted" against the NCAA scholarship limits? Can anyone explain this one to me?

osdad

The NA does not give scholarships - in the NCAA sense.

From Wiki (take it for what its worth): "The three service academies that participate in Division I FBS football (Army, Navy, and Air Force) are exempt from NCAA scholarship limits because all students at those schools, whether or not they are varsity athletes, receive full scholarships from the service branch that operates the academy. "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletic_scholarship

A co-worker was recruited to the NA for football. Sent to NAPS. Played 4 years at Annapolis.

georgiaswimmom

My son is being recruited by the Naval Academy for the swim team. He received an LOA last week. He is a strong student with a good GPA (3.8), has qualified medically, has completed his BGO interview and did the CFA at summer seminar, but has struggled with the SAT and ACT (his latest scores were much improved but did not get them back in time to submit to his nominating sources by their initial screening). The coach called this week and my son gave his verbal committment to swim at Navy. He applied to both of our senators and our representative for a nomination, but was only granted an interview with the representative. He is concerned that he will not get a nomination from this one source, as it is very competitive in our area (his interview is this weekend). Does anyone have any advice for us?

it all works out

Be sure to let the Rep know that he has the LOA before that interview ends. Also did he apply for the VP nomination?

georgiaswimmom

He did not apply for the VP nomination. We thought that was for children of active duty or retired military personnel. It is probably too late to apply for that anyway.