IMHO -
This year, with the circumstances that they are, the budget cuts, the reduction in number of max's, the reduction in number of days of SFT and the length of time to get EA's released .....a good cadet will already have in place what his plan is if not receiving an EA. Hence the decision to return or not return will have already been made.
There will no doubt be many good cadets not making the cuts. The best of these have already probably done whatever steps necessary to make their plan B happen.
I would think that this decision is something that these cadets have had the entire semester to think about and NOT something that should be decided in the days/week after receiving the bad news as the decision would be more likely to be made with unnecessary emotion added to the mix.
The first step in deciding plan B.... Do I want to return as a 500 if I don't get an EA? yes or no If the answer is 'NO" then the planning begins for plan B..... see where I am going with this?
That's why it's called an opinion.. this one just happens to be mine.
You say that like it's something that's easy to decide. You THINK you know exactly what you're going to do if it doesn't pan out, but everyone still thinks they have a chance and are banking on that chance until that final word is given. What with how stringent the weeding process was at dets across the nation this year (I know our class is bigger than last year's, but that's because we started with more candidates than in previous years) and cadets being disenrolled for medical reasons left and right, there isn't a whole lot of "bad cadet" fat left to trim. In a perfect world "bad cadets" would be at the bottom and "good cadets" would be at the top and the selection process would get rid of all the undeserving cadets. In reality there are "bad cadets" with better gpas than "good cadets" who will edge them out of EAs.
If selection stats are as low as people have been predicting them to be, this year a lot of good cadets that would have made it in previous years won't. Of our group of 27 or so FTP cadets I can only think of 2 that would be told not to return as 500s next year, everyone else has shown maximum effort.
Even those who seem the most dedicated will struggle with repeating their 2nd year, watching the rest of their classmates go on and become POC, having to address them as Sir or Ma'am, and struggling with bonding to your new class when you used to be so tight with your old one. Not to mention having to foot the bill for an extra year of schooling so that you can commission through ROTC. We had a 500, pretty gung ho guy when he was a 200, had a military legacy that he'd dreamed of living up to for years. He just couldn't hack it, stayed most of the year, but was never engaged, never bonded with our class, struggled with having new found barriers put in place by rank of ppl he'd known for years which made him question why he was doing this in the 1st place. Gone.
It may sound petty and inconsequential or like something that cadets who
really want to be there wouldn't struggle with, but those are still valid concerns for anyone contemplating returning which is partly why many cadets who don't get EAs either switch ROTC branches or don't return at all.
I want the results to come out to us as soon as our dets get them too, but at the same time deciding whether or not to return as a 500 is not worthy of a snap decision nor is it to be taken lightly. Not getting an EA is a possibility for everyone, but I highly doubt most of us have thought up a solid plan that extends beyond A) contemplate the end of the dream you've had for yourself for the past 2-15 years in a fetal position B) stay in school and finish your degree C) Start thinking about the job you'll have to get in the civilian sector with a degree you may or may not have chosen because you thought you'd be in the military and wouldn't actually have to use it.
(Partial) Kidding aside, I think a weekend to recover and consult with trusted confidants and parents is more than appropriate. These are their lives, it's hard to let go of the thing you've been building for yourself since you were a kid. Like Jcleppe said, the kid who's been joking all semester that he's out if he doesn't get an EA can decide to stay and the cadet that's been gung ho about going to FT no matter what may give up and opt out when everything is said and done.