<p>Yes, New Mexico Military Institute. LOL, my "alleged" comment has to do with the NMMI Basic Training thread in the West Point forum. Several guys who are there right now have described their experience. They are very sweet about answering all my endless dumb questions.</p>
<p>Spider and I visited NMMI last spring, liked it a lot, but (reading what some students and old grads post on the net) the place seems to be going through some changes. That said, the USNA Foundation director told us that NMMI kids were some of the best-prepared kids they received.</p>
<p>James2010, Demosthenes, ScreamingEagle, and Cadetfor5 have the best perspective. Any info I have is third hand at best.</p>
<p>Spidermom,I looked at their site last night, but was unclear if he has to be appointed by foundation. My son did not receive one, so he needs someplace he can attend as a "free agent", as I've heard it referred to. Do you know if they take free agents? It may be a great place for him, if so, because his friend is attending in the fall on WP foundation. If anyone else has any info on other prep schools that give college credit, that are available to free agents who want to re-apply to USNA, please respond. Thanks.</p>
<p>JJLmom:
Please do not be so hard on your BGO. They are prohibited from giving information regarding appointments to their candidates. They are notified, but cannot divulge the information.</p>
<p>If no one from the nominee list was offered an appointment after the initial candidate turned down their appointment, then for whatever reason, it was determined that there were no qualified nominees from the remaining slate. It may have been the medical waiver thing (only 35 % of any class may be admitted on medical waiver, thus the competition is particularly rigorous), the CFA, the "interest survey" (I am not sure if they still do that) or a host of other not quantifiable criteria.</p>
<p>If your son is interested in reapplying, then contacting the BGO and/or regional director and asking in what areas improvement is needed would help for the next round. Be sure to phrase the question in a positive manner, as "what do you recommend I should do to improve my candidacy", rather than "How come I did not get an appointment?"</p>
<p>Perseverance is viewed positively.
Good Luck,
CM</p>
<p>Candidatemom, Thanks for the advice. I think maybe the regional person whould be a good place to start for re-application. You mentioned something about a medical waiver as a reason for rejection, but he was medically and academically qualified. What is your opinion on a prep school such as Greystone or NMMI that offers college credit vs. an NROTC program. He heard from NROTC that he is an alternate for scholarship, however, the top school's that he has been accepted into have filled their scholarship quotas. One of his safety schools has openings as of today.</p>
<p>I cannot comment one way or another, as I have no experience or direct information. Appointees who have gone through one or another of the programs would be better qualified to answer.</p>
<p>One question, however. You state that your son was "academically qualified." How do you know that??? Did he receive a QQQ letter? I only ask because my son never got information regarding any qualifications as he required a medical waiver, and they do not send out QQQ letters to those requiring waivers.</p>
<p>JJLmom, NMMI does take free agents (they call them "self-preps') and claims to have very good success getting them appointed. When we visited NMMI last Spring it was for just that reason...for Spider to have a backup plan in case he wasn't offered for 2010. We only kinda-sorta knew about Foundation/AOG back then.</p>
<p>candidatemom,
Letter dated Nov. 8, 2005 reads "The Admissions Board has reviewed your record and has determined that you are scholastically qualified to compete for appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 2010. This completes a major step of obtaining an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy........you will be notified of your selection status no later than April 15..."
He also received the DoDmerb letter that stated he was medically qualified in Oct. 2005. As you and I have discussed on this site before, he never heard on CFA, and there was no "official QQQ notification" received. Is there such a notification? I understood that unless his scores were unacceptable, he would not hear on CFA. Since he is considering re-applying, I would love to have the answer to this question for future reference.</p>