Hi everyone,
This is kind of long but I thought it was worth sharing because I thought my situation was a bit unusual (could be wrong).
It took a lot of thinking to actually begin this process and in mid-October of my senior year, without my parents even knowing, I submitted my preliminary application, in which later ended up in me NOT receiving candidate status. (I have low test scores)
But on December 12, after a month of finally being able to let go of USNA for this cycle, I received another email, from the same person, awarding me my candidate status. I did NOT submit another preliminary application. Confused, I asked my former teammate and friend who is USNA appointed (3/C), if this was some kind of prank. He said “No, start now.” I finished the whole process in a month and a half and received little to no help from my parents because service academies and college in general are entirely new to them.
Nomination deadlines were about a week from being due, but I explained my situation to my MOC and he was kind of enough to give me a shot. Which later ended in me receiving a nomination after our interview.
With only a month to train for the CFA (give or take a few cheat days bc of the holiday season) I took my pull ups from 3 to 11, sit ups from 30 to 69, and push ups from 32 to 59. Because of my loaded schedule, I was up at 1 AM on school days doing all that i could to get one more rep for each of these three events. Although these aren’t near MAX scores, I would say that’s pretty good progress.
And I completed the dreaded DoDMERB. And was soon deemed medically Q’d!
I just wanted to say that the SAF is an amazing resource for up and coming candidates and without it I would have been extremely lost throughout this entire process. It was a very stressful time to go through alone, but all of my questions were answered here, ultimately relieving any sort of mental anxiety. I enjoyed reading the helpful insights from long time members and sharing the same stress with the newer members and other candidates like myself. At this point I am still CPR but whether I get in or not for this cycle, I have learned a lot about myself throughout the process.
I hope this forum continues to thrive in the coming years.
Congrats c/o 2023
And good luck future candidates.
This is kind of long but I thought it was worth sharing because I thought my situation was a bit unusual (could be wrong).
It took a lot of thinking to actually begin this process and in mid-October of my senior year, without my parents even knowing, I submitted my preliminary application, in which later ended up in me NOT receiving candidate status. (I have low test scores)
But on December 12, after a month of finally being able to let go of USNA for this cycle, I received another email, from the same person, awarding me my candidate status. I did NOT submit another preliminary application. Confused, I asked my former teammate and friend who is USNA appointed (3/C), if this was some kind of prank. He said “No, start now.” I finished the whole process in a month and a half and received little to no help from my parents because service academies and college in general are entirely new to them.
Nomination deadlines were about a week from being due, but I explained my situation to my MOC and he was kind of enough to give me a shot. Which later ended in me receiving a nomination after our interview.
With only a month to train for the CFA (give or take a few cheat days bc of the holiday season) I took my pull ups from 3 to 11, sit ups from 30 to 69, and push ups from 32 to 59. Because of my loaded schedule, I was up at 1 AM on school days doing all that i could to get one more rep for each of these three events. Although these aren’t near MAX scores, I would say that’s pretty good progress.
And I completed the dreaded DoDMERB. And was soon deemed medically Q’d!
I just wanted to say that the SAF is an amazing resource for up and coming candidates and without it I would have been extremely lost throughout this entire process. It was a very stressful time to go through alone, but all of my questions were answered here, ultimately relieving any sort of mental anxiety. I enjoyed reading the helpful insights from long time members and sharing the same stress with the newer members and other candidates like myself. At this point I am still CPR but whether I get in or not for this cycle, I have learned a lot about myself throughout the process.
I hope this forum continues to thrive in the coming years.
Congrats c/o 2023
And good luck future candidates.
