Perhaps I am alone on this, but am I the only one here who was caught totally unaware by the exceedingly tight medical requirements necessary to persue admittance to a service academy?
My family does not live in an area with heavy military presence and we do not have much in the way of a recent military background. Perhaps those exposed to that environment would know this information, but how in God's green earth did the requirement of absolute physical perfection escape us through this entire process?!!!
In all the literature we received from the USNA and studied cover to cover, I cannot find any warnings where early childhood ailments would likely be a huge issue. Zip, zilch, zero. Somehow that little detail that apparently takes out hundreds of applicants every year was overlooked.
How did we miss that?
In a trip to an admissions forum at the USNA, with speeches by admissions personell and later in discussions with those same individuals...nobody happend to mention that any one of literally hundreds of ailments and afflictions are the death knell of many a hopeful student.
How could that happen?
In Sue Ross's excellent handbook "The Naval Academy Candidate Book" which we purchased and the whole family read cover to cover, not one word addressed the medical minefield. Somewhere she should have mentioned that if you have so much as a patch of psoriasis on you buttocks you are SOL!
Did she just forget?
Nothing in interviews with the BGO. Nothing during three seperate MOC interviews. Not one comment on the Academy's desire for candidates with many years of high level, athletic prowess...with the caveat that it better have been injury free. Tweak a shoulder throwing a fastball in tenth grade and uhhh ohhh!
Hope you didn't go to the doctor about that!
My point in all this is, the significant amount of medical disqualifiers that come into play for many candidates should be much more openly discussed earlier in the process.....by someone!
My family does not live in an area with heavy military presence and we do not have much in the way of a recent military background. Perhaps those exposed to that environment would know this information, but how in God's green earth did the requirement of absolute physical perfection escape us through this entire process?!!!
In all the literature we received from the USNA and studied cover to cover, I cannot find any warnings where early childhood ailments would likely be a huge issue. Zip, zilch, zero. Somehow that little detail that apparently takes out hundreds of applicants every year was overlooked.
How did we miss that?
In a trip to an admissions forum at the USNA, with speeches by admissions personell and later in discussions with those same individuals...nobody happend to mention that any one of literally hundreds of ailments and afflictions are the death knell of many a hopeful student.
How could that happen?
In Sue Ross's excellent handbook "The Naval Academy Candidate Book" which we purchased and the whole family read cover to cover, not one word addressed the medical minefield. Somewhere she should have mentioned that if you have so much as a patch of psoriasis on you buttocks you are SOL!
Did she just forget?
Nothing in interviews with the BGO. Nothing during three seperate MOC interviews. Not one comment on the Academy's desire for candidates with many years of high level, athletic prowess...with the caveat that it better have been injury free. Tweak a shoulder throwing a fastball in tenth grade and uhhh ohhh!
Hope you didn't go to the doctor about that!
My point in all this is, the significant amount of medical disqualifiers that come into play for many candidates should be much more openly discussed earlier in the process.....by someone!