Will I recieve and How long until waiver?

[tiger2]

I am currently appointed to USNA, class of 2012. I sent in all my paper work with statements from myself, my doctor, and all my blood tests regarding my use of accutane. I have no ill side effects and my blood work is all normal. I am set to finish my accutane program april 17. Today in the mail i received my disqualification letter. I called DoDMERB and spoke with a doctor who said that my name is passed on to waiver authorities and even if I do not receive a waiver my disqualification will be lifted following the review of a blood test taken 8 weeks from april 17. The doctor did add that it was likely I would be granted a waiver, however she did not and would tell me how long it would take to receive one. Herein lies my question: How long does it take for one to be granted a waiver (average time) and how likely is it that I receive one? Also, I am a recruited athlete, so would telling my coach about it expedite the waiver process or be useless? In addition, the doctor said my files has been sent to waiver authorities, so should I contact my admission counselor or no? Any advice is greatly welcomed...thanks in advance...

 

[RetNavyHM]

Feel free to let the coach and admissions office know. Most likely there is nothing that they can do, but I've always found its best to keep everyone in the loop on whats going on.

The fact that your Accutane treatement will be complete in the middle of June, as long as your acne has cleared up, lends itself to a waiver. DoDMERB can remove the disqualification after 8 weeks with normal lab results, but that would really put you close to I/R-day.

At this point in time I would request my physician/sermatologist write a letter explaining the treatment, the expected completion date and the expected results of the treatment. I would also include copies of all the lab results, and if its been a while, request a new lab test. If everything is normal now, there should be no reason why they would not be normal after completion of treatment. Submit all this information to DoDMERB.

You never stated what academy you are applying for. For USMA, USMMA and USNA the waiver process is automatic, there is nothing you need to do (but contacting your admissions officer could help to speed up the process), for USAFA and USCGA you need to request a waiver in writing to the admissions office (the address will be included with the disqualification letter).

The average time for waiver processing is 3 -8 weeks.