<p>Our mid, Class of 2010, got her LOA the first week of October of her senior year. The way someone in the know about Admissions explained it to me. There is a point total that ultimately every candidate is judged with - this is everything thrown in, from SAT’s to physical fitness, to leadership to high school class rank, to your (if you went NASS Cadre evaluation) to your BGO eval, your sports level of achievement,etc. etc. etc. If your early point totals already have you in the top percentiles even against other candidates - USNA takes a look at you and makes their decision in the first rounds of their Class considerations - and it does begin in late August/early September. Not sure how the Class of 2013’s timetable will work, but it will be something in this ballpark. In our case, our daughter’s class rank was #1 of 760…and the like. What also helped was that her father is USNA, meaning she is a ‘legacy’ which adds additional points to the total. It means USNA knows your family ‘gets’ USNA and your odds of retention as a midshipman, once they have chosen and invested in you, is pretty reliable.</p>
<p>Typically of the 1500 or so offers of Appointment - USNA gives 200 LOA’s each year. So you figure the odds. Even with those LOA’s not every single person ultimately gets their Appointment - for they don’t complete the rest of their application, or they change their minds, or they have a medical DQ.
or they flub their senior year grades, etc.</p>
<p>I posted 2 years back on this list-serve how NOT to get an LOA. I did that simply to explain how difficult it is to receive one. I still have a copy on my own computer - it lists the kind of accomplishments my kiddo had at that point in time…and what the BGO Regional person was commenting back to me about it. Anyone is welcome to email me at: <a href="mailto:nofoolingme2003■■■■■■.com">nofoolingme2003■■■■■■.com</a> for a copy to read. I won’t repost it here.</p>
<p>Good luck in your application!</p>