DoDMERB Waiver Communication from USNA?

[FC_Dad]

My DS has applied to the 4 SA's. He found out he was medically DQ'd at the beginning of December (expected). USAFA and USMA within 1 week of the DQ informed him that he had been DQ'd and it showed up in their application portals. USCGA has also recently indicated they received the DQ as well. DS reached out to USNA in mid December to see if they received DQ (hoping to get communication that they had received it and were pursuing a waiver) but did not receive a response back. Has anyone in the community had communication specifically from USNA that they were medically DQ'd and a waiver was being sought?
Thank you

 

[Capt MJ]

My DS has applied to the 4 SA's. He found out he was medically DQ'd at the beginning of December (expected). USAFA and USMA within 1 week of the DQ informed him that he had been DQ'd and it showed up in their application portals. USCGA has also recently indicated they received the DQ as well. DS reached out to USNA in mid December to see if they received DQ (hoping to get communication that they had received it and were pursuing a waiver) but did not receive a response back. Has anyone in the community had communication specifically from USNA that they were medically DQ'd and a waiver was being sought?
Thank you

It’s to be expected the SAs (and there are 5 federal academies, USMA, USNA, USAFA, USCGA, USMMA) work their applicant pools and class-building in varying orders from each other.

USNA may not have contacted DoDMERB yet to get his results OR they may have seen his results just not updated his portal yet but can see it in their internal view OR may not have initiated a waiver request OR may not have initiated a waiver request yet.

Your son can pop up on the Admissions chat, usually held daily around noon via the chat widget on the Admissions page, with his candidate number handy, to ask the Admissions officer to check his file, since he can’t check anything on DoDMERB.

I just clicked the chat right now - it’s up and live at 3:02 pm EST.

 

[FC_Dad]

Thank you for the response. The Chat function in his portal just indicates that the functionality is not available for his region and to contact the admissions team (which he did mid December and he also reached out to his BGO who did not have any information regarding his medical). DS (and I) were curious if his experience was similar to others with a similar situation.

 

[AGbullet]

I was DQ'd at USNA and I received an email from a medical individual at USNA asking for additional information. Your DS should reach out to their BGO for all the help they can give because mine confirmed that I was DQ'd. If your DS sees that they have been DQ'd from USMA or USAFA, Navy likely got the update as well and are thinking about what to do next. The BGO should try to get USNA to request a waiver for your DS.

 

[justdoit19]

I was DQ'd at USNA and I received an email from a medical individual at USNA asking for additional information. Your DS should reach out to their BGO for all the help they can give because mine confirmed that I was DQ'd. If your DS sees that they have been DQ'd from USMA or USAFA, Navy likely got the update as well and are thinking about what to do next. The BGO should try to get USNA to request a waiver for your DS.

BGO’s are not involved in the medical process. In fact, BGO training directly from USNA requires that we don’t opine, intervene, or advise on medical/DODMERB.

We CANNOT ‘get USNA to request a waiver’.

 

[FC_Dad]

Thank you for the response. DS did contact his BGO, and as justdoit19 indicated the BGO did not have any insight into the DQ process or the waiver process. He has not had any communication from USNA basically since September. He has everything done except his DQ (CFA Qualified, App complete in August, MOC nomiation showing in portal). USMA/USCGA have already initiated waiver review and requested AMI. USNA hasn't acknowledged the DQ with any communication (the portal shows the same "X" that's been there since he submitted it). An email from DoDMERB back in December indicated they had sent the DQ to all 4 SA's he applied to and he was able to log into the DoDMERB website last night and it shows the DQ has been sent to USNA. Not sure if he should retry email admissions or try some other avenue (chat functionality for his region is disabled) or just wait an hope something comes through.

 

[mcveyrl]

My DS has applied to the 4 SA's. He found out he was medically DQ'd at the beginning of December (expected). USAFA and USMA within 1 week of the DQ informed him that he had been DQ'd and it showed up in their application portals. USCGA has also recently indicated they received the DQ as well. DS reached out to USNA in mid December to see if they received DQ (hoping to get communication that they had received it and were pursuing a waiver) but did not receive a response back. Has anyone in the community had communication specifically from USNA that they were medically DQ'd and a waiver was being sought?
Thank you

DS was DQ'd because of labrum surgery from two years ago. Labrum is fully healed and he played two years of varsity sports after that. He has an LOA to USMA and they gave him notice that they initiated a waiver. He has MOC nom to both. He reached out to his admissions officer at USNA and the admissions officer made it seem like a waiver was being requested but referred him to the a medical POC. The medical POC said a waiver would be requested only if he had an LOA - which he does not currently have for USNA. So we don't think a waiver has been requested but we're not sure based on the admissions officer's statements. Frankly the communication from USNA has been all over the place and a little confusing.

 

[dumpyonion17]

My DS was DQ'd on 12.12 and USAFA and USMA were fast in getting that posted in the portal. He has a nom and waiver request to USMA but we have not heard anything further in about a month. Is that normal? He has been deemed competitive and yet there has been no movement on the waiver and I'm not sure if that will come from DoDMERB or USMA. He does not have a nom for USAFA and I think they are not seeking a waiver. USNA is aware of the DQ (his admission rep confirmed this) but the portal has not budged, same X next to "Medical" while everything else is marked "completed". Admission rep stated that he would "likely get a waiver request in a week or two" about one week ago. So, we are waiting as well. But, it sounds like his portal look similar to you DS's. Best of luck and please update here if there is a change. It is good to know that others are waiting too.

 

[FC_Dad]

My DS was also DQ'd due to a shoulder dislocation which required labrum surgery. He also has a LOA for USMA and they contacted him last week directly with an AMI. The AMI letter indicated USMA is helping with AMI requests while DoDMERB was experiencing technical issues For USCGA, DS was put in contact with their medical liason and is working through providing the requested information. He reached out again to USNA admissions about whether they received the DQ and the admissions officer emailed back that if they seek a waiver, he would be contacted via a DoDMERB email (but there was no indication whether they would pursue one or time frame).

 

[mcveyrl]

As an update to this, once DoDMERB was back up my DS received correspondence stating that he is Under Waiver Review for USNA as well - although he still does not have an LOA or any kind of conditional offer which they indicated he would need before such a request would be made. So, there seems to be some movement, but still waiting and watching...

 

[FC_Dad]

It appears "Under Waiver Review" is the state DoDMERB places after the DQ. I don't think it means an academy has initiated a waiver request. For example, Both USNA and USMA still show "Under Waiver Review" although my DS has received an AMI request from USMA, sent back the requested documents, and received acknowledgement that the documents were received (nothing has changed in DoDMERB since it came back online for him).

 

[mcveyrl]

It appears "Under Waiver Review" is the state DoDMERB places after the DQ. I don't think it means an academy has initiated a waiver request. For example, Both USNA and USMA still show "Under Waiver Review" although my DS has received an AMI request from USMA, sent back the requested documents, and received acknowledgement that the documents were received (nothing has changed in DoDMERB since it came back online for him).

I thought so too, but I thought I saw Mr. Mullen post somewhere that UWR was an indication that the SA had initiated a waiver request. When DoDMERB first came back online DS only had UWR under USMA, and UWR has only popped up on USNA the last couple of days - although according to his admissions person they've known of his DQ for several weeks now. I know there's a lot of moving parts and departments, but man it would be nice if there was some kind of easier explanation to decipher all of this.

 

[Zertfxx]

Contacted my AO about the same issue. Seems to me the medical team aren’t reviewing waivers until the Jan 31st deadline. I could be wrong!

 

[FC_Dad]

Agreed. DS received his DQ in early December (USMA/USAFA indicated receipt 1 week later; did not receive communication from USNA). His DoDMERB portal went live in early January and nothing has changed on his portal since it went live (the 4 SA's he applied to all show the same "Under Waiver Review" even though he's been contacted by 2 SA's about submitting docs). He received what appeared to be a generic email from USNA a little over a week ago indicating that they plan to use the DoDMERB website to process waivers and it may take 3-4 weeks but to monitor email for communication from USNA/DoDMERB.

 

[mcveyrl]

DS received the same email from USNA about DoDMERB. It doesn’t sound like any USNA applicant has received anything that looks like a confirmation of a waiver request - just generic things…

 

[KVargas]

Thank you for the response. DS did contact his BGO, and as justdoit19 indicated the BGO did not have any insight into the DQ process or the waiver process. He has not had any communication from USNA basically since September. He has everything done except his DQ (CFA Qualified, App complete in August, MOC nomiation showing in portal). USMA/USCGA have already initiated waiver review and requested AMI. USNA hasn't acknowledged the DQ with any communication (the portal shows the same "X" that's been there since he submitted it). An email from DoDMERB back in December indicated they had sent the DQ to all 4 SA's he applied to and he was able to log into the DoDMERB website last night and it shows the DQ has been sent to USNA. Not sure if he should retry email admissions or try some other avenue (chat functionality for his region is disabled) or just wait an hope something comes through.

Hello. I was wondering if your son has had any movement or heard anything from USNA or DoDMERB yet? My son is in the same position. He received his DQ on 1/14. His DoDMERB portal to this day still says under wavier review. No AMIs were requested. We took it upon ourselves to send medical documentation to DoDMERB three different times. I finally emailed them a fourth time asking if they received the documentation and they said they have nothing in my son's file and to send it, which we did. My son's USNA portal still has an X next to the medical and everything else checked off. They have not requested any additional information or have been in contact with my son at all. I'm just wondering what happened in your situation. Thank you so much for all of your help. I really appreciate it.

 

[Capt MJ]

Hello. I was wondering if your son has had any movement or heard anything from USNA or DoDMERB yet? My son is in the same position. He received his DQ on 1/14. His DoDMERB portal to this day still says under wavier review. No AMIs were requested. We took it upon ourselves to send medical documentation to DoDMERB three different times. I finally emailed them a fourth time asking if they received the documentation and they said they have nothing in my son's file and to send it, which we did. My son's USNA portal still has an X next to the medical and everything else checked off. They have not requested any additional information or have been in contact with my son at all. I'm just wondering what happened in your situation. Thank you so much for all of your help. I really appreciate it.

I believe Mr. Mullen, Deputy Director, DoDMERB, when he posts here, has noted “under waiver review” means the SA is determining whether or not to request their waiver authority review the applicant’s medical file for the DQ.

Admissions may not have gotten to it yet, they may still be reviewing it, they may have not yet decided whether or not to send it to the waiver authority, or they may have decided not to ask for a decision from the waiver authority but have not yet finalized all decisions relating to the candidate.

DoDMERB has no role in those decisions except to post status in the portals when received from the commissioning programs.

The medical qualification process can often be the most time-consuming and opaque part of the process for military accession.

The only thing the candidate can do is focus on what they can control, tend alternate plans and go PT to bleed off stress.

 

[FC_Dad]

DS never received any communication from USNA. So he contacted USNA and they said they were not currently seeking a waiver (this was a couple weeks ago). For other academies, he did have to send the info to DoDMERB twice (this was right when DoDMERB came back online), they only seemed to process the information once he indicated the USCGA wanted the info stored in DoDMERB. When he started his path towards a SA last summer USNA was his #1 choice. Then he got injured during the fall sports season and this resulted in his DQ. He's made it all the way back to participate in the winter sports season, has a nomination to USNA, LOA/nomination/waiver process underway for USMA, acceptance to USCGA with waiver approved (took ~1 month), and awarded 4-year scholarships for AROTC/AFROTC/NROTC with waiver approved for AFROTC (waiver granted in under 1 week). I'm unsure why USNA wouldn't even initiate the waiver process.

 

[Capt MJ]

DS never received any communication from USNA. So he contacted USNA and they said they were not currently seeking a waiver (this was a couple weeks ago). For other academies, he did have to send the info to DoDMERB twice (this was right when DoDMERB came back online), they only seemed to process the information once he indicated the USCGA wanted the info stored in DoDMERB. When he started his path towards a SA last summer USNA was his #1 choice. Then he got injured during the fall sports season and this resulted in his DQ. He's made it all the way back to participate in the winter sports season, has a nomination to USNA, LOA/nomination/waiver process underway for USMA, acceptance to USCGA with waiver approved (took ~1 month), and awarded 4-year scholarships for AROTC/AFROTC/NROTC with waiver approved for AFROTC (waiver granted in under 1 week). I'm unsure why USNA wouldn't even initiate the waiver process.

Your son has some excellent opportunities developing.

Though very similar in process in many ways, each SA’s class-building methods and goals, waiver policies and other criteria are different. He may not have been the top applicant in his “nom bucket,” and USNA may decide to not request a medical waiver, if they are thinking they will not offer an appointment. While the CFA and DoDMERB elements of being fully qualified are clear - you are either qualified or not, or waivered - USNA does not inform the candidate if they are scholastically qualified (all the other stuff that is evaluated). The candidate does not know if they are fully qualified. On the waiver front, the waiver authorities for USNA amd NROTC differ. Waiver policies differ across services, because missions, operating environments, gear and equipment differ. Some DQs are rarely waivered, some frequently, some might have a cap (a good example is color blindness at USNA, as only a handful are approved, and their career choices are limited).

The bottom line is quite often SAs will offer an appointment to a candidate but another will not. There will always be more fine candidates, including fully qualified with noms, than there are seats in the class.

Stay flexible, concentrate on the cards in hand, and best wishes for all to work out as it is meant to be.

 

[FC_Dad]

Yes, DS (and we his parents) figure there must have been a stronger candidate. It just seems odd to us that USNA did not even attempt to pursue a waiver given his competitive stats so he could maybe compete for the national pool. He's been accepted to multiple top 25 universities, his SAT is above the 75th percentile for USNA, his GPA is near perfect, he's a multi-sport 4-year varsity starter/team captain, ... We wonder if perhaps his type of DQ was something they would not waive. I guess we'll never know. He is strongly considering doing NROTC with the 4-year scholarship but he's concerned he'll end up not getting a waiver with them as well and lose the scholarship. Given the other options, come 5/1 our (the parents) counsel to him has been to choose from those sources that have already granted the waiver.