Any advice with this Admission situation?

fairwinds

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Let me preface this thread by saying that my son has already emailed Mr. Mullen to see if he can help, but I thought maybe someone here might have had a similar situation and can give some advice while we wait for his reply.

Son passed DODMERB this summer and received letter that he was qualified for USNA, USMMA and USCGA. Yesterday he received a letter saying that he exceeds height/weight standards and needs to have a Body Fat Determination form completed by a physician or other medical personnel. He does not now, nor did he this summer, exceed the standards (in fact, they enclosed a copy of the standards and he is right in there!)

He tried to call Candidate Guidance Office yesterday, when he got home from school, but they close at 4pm. He is going to try again today. Just wondering if anyone else had a problem like this?

It seems like a mistake/typo or something has occurred between DODMERB and USNA Admissions, and it is frustrating because he had his entire package for USNA done weeks ago and now he is not even being looked at by Boards because they must think he is overweight!

Any advice/suggestion would be appreciated!
 
This is what USNA told us at BGO training: There are certain height/weight standards for USNA -- I'm not sure if they are set by DODMERB, USNA or both -- Larry may know the answer to this. However, being overweight based on those standards is not per se a "medical" disqualification. DODMERB must note the fact that the candidate exceeded those standards but, unless there is other evidence of a medical problem, exceeding height/weight standards is not a DODMERB issue.

Instead, it's up to the individual accession source (e.g., USNA) to determine whether to allow the person to enter. USNA typically asks for a body fat measurement -- even if the person exceeds those requirements, he/she could still be admitted. It's an individual determination that is ultimately made by the Superintendent based on recommendations from the Admissions Board.

Again, this is what I recall from our training and my memory may be a bit faulty. I would follow up with your Regional Director. Your BGO CANNOT help you on this due to privacy issues.
 
Thank you for your quick response. I appreciate your advice. Son did send an email to Regional Director and will try to call USNA again today.

It's just an annoying situation, because he in well within the limits--even based on the sheet the USNA included in the letter. It doesn't make sense, unless the doctor wrote down the wrong number! He plays lacrosse and runs--he doesn't have an ounce of fat on him.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Thanks, again!
 
If my son needed to call during the school day regarding his admissions, he would go to the guidance office and ask to use his cell phone to make the call in the office. He doesn't get home until 6:30pm every day due to practice so he would never be able to contact anyone if he wasn't able to make the calls during the day ar school.

Have your son check with the school to see if he could call during the day so that he can possible make some type of contact with the candidate's office if that is what he chooses to do.
 
You are doing well to pay attention and stay on top of this. While son was in the admissions process last year, a scheduler at our doc's office told me her son was dq'd because doc at DoDMERB exam wrote down his height wrong! They never figured it out until it was too late!

Also heard of a kid who was dq'd on DoDMERB for some silly thing physically. An old injury I think. Tried fighting it through channels. Finally drove like 6 hours to get to USNA, met with Admissions, proceeded to drop and do some ungodly amount of pushups to prove the old injury was not a deal breaker!

Stay after it!
 
Hi, I just wanted to thank everyone for their words of wisdom.

Situation is resolved, thanks to Mr. Mullen. Son's height was listed incorrectly on DODMERB form that physician fill out at exam (we never saw a completed copy) and now we can see how that would have exceeded USNA standards!

Son spoke with Regional Director, who corrected his height in his file...so hopefully, son's application (which was completed by Sept. 1), will go before the Board soon!

Thanks to everyone, especially Mr. Mullen who is a great asset and resource to have on this forum and at DODMERB!
 
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