Understand the desire to choose by Christmas, but . . . if he's not sure, he should take all the time he needs. This is a big decision.
Here's one data point. A son's friend was accepted to a bunch of top civilian schools and also USNA. He received all 3 MOC noms -- and lived in SoCal (so 2 Senator noms from CA). One of the Senators MOC committees said he was the strongest candidate they'd ever seen (take that for what it's worth
). He was an avid and experienced sailor and drooled when he saw USNA's racing boats.
In his case, his mother didn't want him to go to USNA for some (to me) strange reasons -- nothing to do with fear of his getting killed, etc. The young man dithered and dithered. Finally, on the very last day, turned down USNA and attended an east coast college. There, he excelled academically and really got into physical fitness.
When he graduated, the desire to serve was still there. He wanted to be a SEAL. However, at one point while he flying home from that civilian school, he suffered an episode of DVT. It killed any chance of a military career, at least in spec ops. He went to various specialists, tried all sorts of options . . . but his dream was over before it even started.
He has gone on to a very successful life but there will always be this empty space. And I always wonder whether, had he gone to USNA, his life would have been different. We'll never know.