NROTC waiver vs. USNA waiver

[JustWaiting]

The NROTC waiver has arrived and the USNA waiver is still being considered. I understand (believe) that those two decisions are made by two different organizations/people.

Is the USNA waiver decision maker made aware of the NROTC waiver decision?

If not, would it be beneficial to notify USNA of the NROTC waiver?

Could there be any down side to notifying USNA that NROTC granted the waiver?

 

[usna1985]

I'll let Larry Mullen reply with the absolute right answer. However, from what BGO's have been told, the decisions are made by different authorities who don't really care what the other decided. Also, it is my understanding that someone could get an NROTC waiver and not a USNA waiver (but probably not the reverse).

Larry?

 

[Go_Army]

My son has a very similar situation with the USMA/AROTC. He has already received a waiver from ROTC and is waiting on the USMA. He has an LOA for USMA, so I posed these two questions to DoDMERB:

Does the waiver authority know that he has been waived by AROTC (and therefore will be commissioning into the Army)?

Does the waiver authority know that he has an LOA?

Larry Mullen's response:

1) yes

2) yes

Still, the waiting is tough. I imagine the waiver authorities are swamped this time of year, and if they are as thorough as DoDMERB, it will certainly take time to go through all the records, at least in my son's case.

 

[JustWaiting]

We have EXACT SAME situation here. LOA to USNA and waiver from NROTC. "Just Waiting" to hear from USNA on waiver. Wondered about the wisdom or propriety of letting USNA know about the NROTC decision, if USNA did not already know. And whether or not there is even a 1% chance that the fact of the NROTC decision would have a favorable impact on the USNA decision maker.

 

[Go_Army]

We are probably using the same logic. In my original question to DoDMERB I explained that risk to the military has already been addressed by the ROTC waiver - if the academy denies the waiver then they merely force the candidate to an alternate commisioning path, but they still end up as an officer with a service requirement. The academy's risk, of course, is another matter, but to me it would be illogical for the academy to only look at the four years in their program (in fact I believe that the academy waiver personnel are looking at a candidate's potential for success in a long term military career). Therefore I would think that an ROTC waiver would be HIGHLY relevant in a waiver decision for a service academy.

Along the same lines, I've gotten the impression that the stronger candidates (e.g. those with LOA's) get perhaps a degree of extra consideration given that they are precisely the type of individual that the academies want to have. Once again, this makes intuitive sense, but I can't say that I've seen anything definitive to confirm this.

I'd be interested in hearing from some of the folks who have knowledge of the admissions perspective.

 

[Just_A_Mom]

Go Army - The "problem" with your logic is two fold.
First - the service academies need to make sure you can get through plebe summer or beast, which starts in late June/Early July, lasts for 5-7 weeks and is very physically intense. Much more physically demanding than any ROTC program.

Second - Congress has set certain limitations on commissioning for the SA's. You could say they are held to a higher standard. For West Point 80% of males in a given class MUST be commissioned Combat Arms. This means by the time this class graduates 80% must be physically able to accept a Combat Arms branch.
For Navy all graduates who are physically eligible must commission in the unrestricted line. They must be careful and accept those who can meet this requirement nearly 5 years away.
These restrictions don't necessarily hold for ROTC.

The other factor is that a waiver isn't black and white. It is "gray" - a judgment call. Anytime you have a judgment call and two different people calling it - it can go either way, potentially.

I am sure Larry may have other insights......?

 

[MullenLE]

Wow! Lots of issues. I'll try and address in sequence down the page after some general points:

1. Each Academy and each ROTC program are different waiver authorities. they have different training, experiences, sometimes--different guidance from the Commanding General/Admiral, etc.
2. AROTC will accept a West Point waiver. No other Academy, ROTC, nor West Point, have a similar position. That is NOT to say, that almost all decisions end up being the same, but there are relatively few outliers within the same Service.
3. Most programs are NOT concerned with the decisions of other waiver authorities. It's NOT that they discount those decisions; it's more that they render their decision after their deliberations. That said, it's NOT a secret. Most programs don't know/monitor/concern themselves with other programs to which an applicant has applied. They are focused on their program and the applicants' merits for their program. If they ask, we tell them. There's nothing prohibiting an applicant from passing that info along. The one thing I can say is that it doesn't have a negative effect. It is either benign or they consider it.
4. For the reasons above, Go_Army is neither correct/incorrect regarding "highly relevant."
5. Go_Army is correct regarding LOAs. an LOA from a Service Academy means they will "automatically" consider an applicant for a medical waiver...because they "competitiveness issue" has already been answered; that's why they were offerred an LOA. An applicant who does not have an LOA, will have the Admissions folks deliberate and determine if waiver processing is appropriate. Meaning, if the applicant has a "potential chance" to receive an offer of appointment, they will direct waiver processing as opposed to e.g. someone who's combined scores on an SAT is 500 and has failed the CFA repeatedly.
6. JustWaiting - It will NOT have a negative effect if you notify USNA of the NROTC waiver.
7. Go_Army - If I remeber the situation correctly, it's becasue I told West Point that the AROTC had granted a waiver. It is NOT our process to noitify all the programs about all the decisions, nor do they ask (as I described above)
8. USNA 1985 is exactly correct.
9. JustWaiting: a) No b) I would c) No

Thx for the opportunity to assist

 

[inthenavy2008]

The NROTC waiver has arrived and the USNA waiver is still being considered. I understand (believe) that those two decisions are made by two different organizations/people.

Is the USNA waiver decision maker made aware of the NROTC waiver decision?

If not, would it be beneficial to notify USNA of the NROTC waiver?

Could there be any down side to notifying USNA that NROTC granted the waiver?

My son was in the same boat last year. He was told that the USNA will only consider the waiver if they are considering giving an appointment. Since my son did not get a USNA appointment, they advised him that the waiver process would be discontinued.

Its great, however, to have that NROTC waiver in your pocket! Congrats on the scholarship and the waiver!

 

[Just_A_Mom]

AROTC will accept a West Point waiver. No other Academy, ROTC, nor West Point, have a similar position. That is NOT to say, that almost all decisions end up being the same, but there are relatively few outliers within the same Service.

Larry-
Curious - is this new? Did not seem to be the case in spring of 2007 at all with my daughter. Lots of hoop jumping - you were not available then - with Cadet Command.

 

[JustWaiting]

Well, the Nomination arrived yesterday. So we have now reached the point where we are just hanging around out by the mailbox all day long so as to be sure to actually meet the mailman who will hopefully be delivering the USNA waiver (the last of the three hurdles) one of these days.

Thank you to Larry Mullen and the others who have provided info and advice about how to best handle the waiver process.

 

[MullenLE]

Our pleasure