<p>I am considering applying to USNA, and I wear contacts for months at a time and don't take them out, considering I am basically legally blind without them in, and glasses make me feel way to dizzy. If I go to USNA is there someone i could talk to in order to wear my contacts during plebe summer. Because unlike most people I don't take them out every night, and have never had an eye infection before. Oh and is it harder to get into USNA if you are a girl?</p>
<p>Every plebe must wear issued glasses during the summer.</p>
<p>You may want to reconsider not taking your contacts out at night. It’s seriously detrimental to the health of your eyes to leave them in, talk to your doctor about it.</p>
<p>but don’t they make you wear the glasses partially for the swimming aspect of the summer. But if you cant see without the glasses how is that beneficial.??</p>
<p>You don’t need to see clearly to swim well.</p>
<p>if you are near sighted and cant see a foot in front of you, that could be a problem.</p>
<p>I don’t make the rules, but that’s how it works and how it has been done for years. If a plebe is nearsighted they must wear the issued glasses over the summer or live without any correction. This is just how it goes, and I doubt dizziness will be a good enough argument to buck the rule. They will probably tell you (and I would recommend) to get used to wearing glasses before you report if or when you get appointed.</p>
<p>what if a plebe is farsighted…do they still have to wear glasses?</p>
<p>The basic, more significant issue here may be that IF one cannot wear the glasses, would he/she receive a pass anyway? You’d have to report that in your exam. The scenario would not present itself absent revelation of all pertinent information. And this certainly is. </p>
<p>Bottomline: If a candidate requires correction and is, for whatever reason, determined unable to have vision sufficiently corrected by the BCGs, they would not receive a medical ok.</p>
<p>On the girl thing, my answer, which many may debate, statistically and politically, it’s easier. While the USNA now proclaims girls NOT being a designated Navy “need,” they continue to note and publish females admitted to the Academy. What all this seems to mean is that the USNA believes it has sufficient numbers of qualified female candidates to hit its target # on I Day.</p>
<p>Contacts.
You will not be permitted to wear them during plebe summer. You will be issued, and expected to wear, the corrective lenses provided. If you need glasses to “see” to swim, you can bring with you, when you report, swim goggles with prescriptive lenses used for that purpose. Once the academic year starts, you can return to wearing your contacts.</p>
<p>All the above, assuming you get a vision waiver.</p>
<p>Girls.
Until recently, an advantage. The margin for that has considerably narrowed. There are more than enough female applicants, of the caliber desired, to fill the 20%-or-so desired mix at this time. So it is easier? You can debate all you want, but the bottom line is that you will have to stand on your own merits, so make your application package as competitive as you can: grades, class rank, SAT/ACTs, ECAs, CFA, leadership, sports, boys/girls state, etc. </p>
<p>What is more important than competing within a female pool, is that you will be competing in an eye-waiver pool, depending on how bad your vision is. There is a limit of how many eye waivers can be granted each year, and lots of otherwise qualified candidates competing for them.</p>
<p>Contacts in the eyes for too long is NOT healthy. Yeah…I was like you but not months…just a week too long for about a month period…and voila…corneal ulcer. Trust me…YOU DO NOT WANT A CORNEAL ULCER because it could have affected my vision permanently…thank G-d it didn’t…NEVER AGAIN. Clean them…take them out…your eyes NEED TO BREATH!!!</p>
<p>Contact lens overwear can cause serious ocular complications, not limited to: permanent vision loss, loss of PQ, corneal scarring, corneal distortion, and neovascularization (new blood vessel growth) that may render you not a candidate for laser vision correction surgery. Contact lens recommended wear times are recommended for a good reason. </p>
<p>If you are medically qualified to attend a service academy, then you do not “need” contact lenses to see clearly and comfortably. If you have not completed the necessary medical screenings, that is a good place to start.</p>