USNA Class of 2027 Waitlist: Team Hopeful

ATTN CAPTAIN MJ or ANYONE WHO CAN HELP:

So we just got updated from waitlist to medically dq. Which means he must have gotten selected that they tried to process his waiver. Worst part is , he didn’t have a recurrent or chronic skin condition. He had one time contact dermatitis . Treated once and never returned. Dodmerb had cited something from the manual saying that since this was a chronic or recurrent issue, that it needed to go to waiver. I received a very unprofessional and rude response from Larry at Dodmerb when I pointed out that this wasn’t chronic or recurrent . They never even asked for supporting docs as they did with other items. Just went right to requiring waiver . I sent the letter from his derm to them reaffirming that this was a one time issue from dish soap at a commercial kitchen . Try why never sent it to Navy med . We got a med disqualified notice from academy today. I sent a letter and his med note to my congressman, but does anyone have a contact at the academy to medical? If you have an actual condition that fits the criteria or you just don’t have the academic background to be admitted …that’s one thing. But he’s perfectly healthy and this should have never been an issue.
 
I'm not going to say much more than this, but I think that the current officer medical ascension process the U.S. has is a national security problem. I have seen so many future great leaders and assets disqualified for things that weren't true or didn't even meet the criteria of what disqualified them. Now obviously these are anecdotes, but I have seen so many of these that it is highly unlikely all of them are not legitimate cases of an inefficient, underfunded, understaffed process throwing away talent to the private sector.
 
I'm not going to say much more than this, but I think that the current officer medical ascension process the U.S. has is a national security problem. I have seen so many future great leaders and assets disqualified for things that weren't true or didn't even meet the criteria of what disqualified them. Now obviously these are anecdotes, but I have seen so many of these that it is highly unlikely all of them are not legitimate cases of an inefficient, underfunded, understaffed process throwing away talent to the private sector.
Are you implying the ones admitted aren’t future great leaders and assets?
 
No, not at all- never implied that. I am talking about those who don't make it through, not those who do.
There are legal limits to the number admitted. You suggest there is a national security interest. It is illogical to me.

The ones with dqs are competing with other great candidates. There are plenty of great candidates and future leaders that aren’t dq’d that aren’t offered an appointment.

My experience was DoDMERB was excellent. They are by the book.
 
There are legal limits to the number admitted. You suggest there is a national security interest. It is illogical to me.

The ones with dqs are competing with other great candidates. There are plenty of great candidates and future leaders that aren’t dq’d that aren’t offered an appointment.

My experience was DoDMERB was excellent. They are by the book.
If officer ascension programs are competition, we are robbing the DoD of talent by unnecessarily DQing candidates over things that aren't true. Not to mention changing the courses of lives unnecessarily. I personally haven't had any issues with them, but I have seen some cases over my past two years in an officer ascension program that blew my mind how inefficient the process was.

It is not a zero sum game- just because there are great people who are DQ'd doesn't mean the people who take their place aren't qualified. That doesn't change the fact that we are robbing those other people of that opportunity to compete to serve.

There is an inherent national security interest in all of the qualified talent being available to compete. Any unnecessary X factor that is limiting what % of legitimately qualified people who are willing to go through an officer ascension program will have an effect on national security. Does it mean the quality of officers will go down? Not necessarily, but there are objectively less qualified people who are deemed qualified than who are actually qualified. I don't think it is good for either party's interest.

I don't have any disrespect towards the people who run the program, but from my experience they just need more resources to actually look into each case.
 
@moho
It seems to me that you are making assumptions and reaching a conclusion based on unverified, anecdotal reports from individuals with no background or training in the subject matter that is the topic of debate.

DODMERB has no incentive to disqualify candidates arbitrarily or for illusory causes. DQs are based on the candidates' statements and/or data contained in their medical histories. DODMERB doesn't create conditions out of whole cloth.

Moreover, it is the appointing authority that makes the final determination as to the candidates' qualification. There are numerous points in the process at which the candidates can dispute findings and submit additional documentation.

I am sure that some individuals do not pass the medical "Q" each year who would actually be fine, just as some academically qualified individuals also miss out.

The bottom line is that there are more qualified candidates than there are slots. That does not create a national security issue. Actually the opposite is true. Accepting borderline candidates would increase the risk, rather than decrease it.
 
@moho
It seems to me that you are making assumptions and reaching a conclusion based on unverified, anecdotal reports from individuals with no background or training in the subject matter that is the topic of debate.

DODMERB has no incentive to disqualify candidates arbitrarily or for illusory causes. DQs are based on the candidates' statements and/or data contained in their medical histories. DODMERB doesn't create conditions out of whole cloth.

Moreover, it is the appointing authority that makes the final determination as to the candidates' qualification. There are numerous points in the process at which the candidates can dispute findings and submit additional documentation.

I am sure that some individuals do not pass the medical "Q" each year who would actually be fine, just as some academically qualified individuals also miss out.

The bottom line is that there are more qualified candidates than there are slots. That does not create a national security issue. Actually the opposite is true. Accepting borderline candidates would increase the risk, rather than decrease it.
Very untrue. We were not given a chance to dispute the findings. Please speak to what you actually know, Gross incompetence is what it was.
 
ATTN CAPTAIN MJ or ANYONE WHO CAN HELP:

So we just got updated from waitlist to medically dq. Which means he must have gotten selected that they tried to process his waiver. Worst part is , he didn’t have a recurrent or chronic skin condition. He had one time contact dermatitis . Treated once and never returned. Dodmerb had cited something from the manual saying that since this was a chronic or recurrent issue, that it needed to go to waiver. I received a very unprofessional and rude response from Larry at Dodmerb when I pointed out that this wasn’t chronic or recurrent . They never even asked for supporting docs as they did with other items. Just went right to requiring waiver . I sent the letter from his derm to them reaffirming that this was a one time issue from dish soap at a commercial kitchen . Try why never sent it to Navy med . We got a med disqualified notice from academy today. I sent a letter and his med note to my congressman, but does anyone have a contact at the academy to medical? If you have an actual condition that fits the criteria or you just don’t have the academic background to be admitted …that’s one thing. But he’s perfectly healthy and this should have never been an issue.
I have no doubt you are frustrated.

Initiating a Congressionsl inquiry is certainly available to all, and will require an investigation. In that same vein of nuclear last-stand options, your son could compose a letter directly to the Dean of Admissions, laying out the facts in a calm, professional manner, asking for a pause and reconsideration of key factors and his help in coordinating with the medical people involved. Your son can even ask to speak to the Dean.
 
I would not qualify flaws in the medical review system as a national security problem. A national security problem is giving access to Government secret+ intelligence to people who, 1) have no real reason to have a clearance, 2) who have a history of problems and/or lied on their paperwork, and 3) who never actually took a poly as part of the process.

And remember, DoDMERB does the first check and makes a determination. If they provide a DQ, they give all of that information to the program to which a candidate is applying (Service Academy, ROTC). It is then at the review, further testing requirements, and other requests from the reviewing group based on the needs of the selecting service to determine if a waiver can be granted.

In reviewing my kid's paperwork after he received his NROTC scholarship offer (AFTER he had been DQed for a non-issue and given a waiver by the Academy for two application cycles), DoDMERB determined based on one note in his pediatrician files about feeling lightheaded that he was again being DQed. This was near the beginning of April last year, right before the huge wave (the culling) that came on April 15th. Both the Academy and his NROTC unit required cardiology tests of varying levels before they would consider a waiver for it. I scrambled to get him into the practice that I go to, got all the testing and overnight monitoring complete, got all the results expedited and certified and sent in. He got waitlisted (probably due to timing of the review of the paperwork).

The Academy determined it was a non-issue, and gave him the waiver. So, my experience is that they did their due diligence, didn't want to take chances that a candidate would have a heart attack in the middle of training, and wanted more testing.
 
ATTN CAPTAIN MJ or ANYONE WHO CAN HELP:

So we just got updated from waitlist to medically dq. Which means he must have gotten selected that they tried to process his waiver. Worst part is , he didn’t have a recurrent or chronic skin condition. He had one time contact dermatitis . Treated once and never returned. Dodmerb had cited something from the manual saying that since this was a chronic or recurrent issue, that it needed to go to waiver. I received a very unprofessional and rude response from Larry at Dodmerb when I pointed out that this wasn’t chronic or recurrent . They never even asked for supporting docs as they district with other items. Just went right to requiring waiver . I sent the letter from his derm to them reaffirming that this was a one time issue from dish soap at a commercial kitchen . Try why never sent it to Navy med . We got a med disqualified notice from academy today. I sent a letter and his med note to my congressman, but does anyone have a contact at the academy to medical? If you have an actual condition that fits the criteria or you just don’t have the academics background to be admitted …that’s one thing. But he’s perfectly healthy and this should have never been an issue.
Sorry to hear...
We went through with this during '25. We did have a plan b ready locked and loaded. This is our experience only... regulars here think it's nuts. The waiver doctor at USNA comes in once a week. I think the doc reviews all the waivers in his inbox. Doc's decisions are then disseminated to candidates. Any communications to Mr. Mullen must be followed by a formal letter via postage stamps. We did this to ensure there's no misunderstanding. In addition, we cc'd other assistants at DODMERB. Again this is only our experience... Any
flaks are welcome.
 
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I have no doubt you are frustrated.

Initiating a Congressionsl inquiry is certainly available to all, and will require an investigation. In that same vein of nuclear last-stand options, your son could compose a letter directly to the Dean of Admissions, laying out the facts in a calm, professional manner, asking for a pause and reconsideration of key factors and his help in coordinating with the medical people involved. Your son can even ask to speak to the Dean.
Sorry to hear...
We went through with this during '25. We did have a plan b ready locked and loaded. This is our experience only... regulars here think it's nuts. The waiver doctor at USNA comes in once a week. I think the doc reviews all the waivers in his inbox. Doc's decisions are then disseminated to candidates. Any communications to Mr. Mullen must be followed by
So we need to contact waiver doc or how does that work ?
 
Sorry to hear...
We went through with this during '25. We did have a plan b ready locked and loaded. This is our experience only... regulars here think it's nuts. The waiver doctor at USNA comes in once a week. I think the doc reviews all the waivers in his inbox. Doc's decisions are then disseminated to candidates. Any communications to Mr. Mullen must be followed by a formal letter via postage stamps. We did this to ensure there's no misunderstanding. In addition, we cc'd other assistants at DODMERB. Again this is only our experience... Any
flaks are welcome.

Does admissions review dq’d candidates and weed out the ones who wouldn’t get appointments even without a medical dq? Or does the waiver doctor handle all dqs?

Are there dqs that can’t be waived?
 
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So we need to contact waiver doc or how does that work ?
Again this is just our experience from '25. We did try to reach the waiver doc through admissions and that's how we found out about the weekly review. From the posts above, congressional and reapplication are options. If reapplication, lessons learned are to be aggressive with med disqualification.
 
So we just got updated from waitlist to medically dq. Which means he must have gotten selected that they tried to process his waiver.


I have heard anecdotally on here that waiver requests are only processed if that candidate definitely would get appointment offer as this post would indicate. But, the official guidance, I believe, is for ones "Competitive" for appointment.

Are there other waitlistees still waiting on waivers to even been requested? (via the letter stating such) It seems to me that USNA would already be looking over those candidates' waiver options in case there is a late spot available., and not wait until they move from WL to LOA.


Also, Navyfly73, I am sorry this is so frustrating. One thing I am learning (however slowly) as a new military parent is that the decisions of the service have to be made for the overall service and not per individual, however frustrating and individually unfair they may be.
 
I have heard anecdotally on here that waiver requests are only processed if that candidate definitely would get appointment offer as this post would indicate. But, the official guidance, I believe, is for ones "Competitive" for appointment.

Are there other waitlistees still waiting on waivers to even been requested? (via the letter stating such) It seems to me that USNA would already be looking over those candidates' waiver options in case there is a late spot available., and not wait until they move from WL to LOA.


Also, Navyfly73, I am sorry this is so frustrating. One thing I am learning (however slowly) as a new military parent is that the decisions of the service have to be made for the overall service and not per individual, however frustrating and individually unfair they may be.
I don't check his portal, but my DS seems to be in that situation. He is on the waitlisted but will still need a medical waiver that has not been requested.
 
Does anyone know if they are sending official TWE's via the postal service?
My DS' medical waiver was denied on the 1st or 2nd of this month. I just picked up a TWE from the post office (haven't opened it). So I believe that would be a yes. --While that closed one door, he will be attending USAFA instead so all is not lost.
 
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