Waivers
Applicants determined to not meet medical standards may be considered for a medical waiver* from the specific program to which they've applied under the following conditions:
(*= A medical waiver is rendered on a case-by-case basis by the specific waiver authority. The medical waiver authorities are designated by the Academies, ROTC programs, USUHS, and officer accession program headquarters. There may be different decisions by the different waiver authorities based on the "needs" of that Service/Program. A risk analysis is performed to determine if an applicant can safely and without exacerbating the disease, illness, condition, and/or injury, train, be commissioned, and be worldwide deployable without restriction, after graduation/initial training.)
1. Service Academies (West Point, US Naval Academy, US Air Force Academy, US Coast Guard Academy, US Merchant Marine Academy, and the Maritime Academies in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, Texas, and California) and USUHS will be automatically considered for medical waiver consideration "if" the applicant is deemed by Admissions to be competitive for an offer of appointment. If an applicant is NOT deemed to be competitive for an offer of appointment, there will be no initiation of medical waiver consideration.
2. ROTC (applications made through US Army Cadet Command, Ft Monroe, Virginia; Naval and Marine Corps Option, Pensacola, FL; and Air Force, Maxwell AFB, AL) for 4 year or 3 year guaranteed scholarship programs = Depending on the specific program, applicants who are selected to undergo scholarship board review or are awarded a scholarship (contingent on a DoDMERB determination of MEETS medical standards or is GRANTED a waiver), will AUTOMATICALLY be considered for a medical waiver, without a guarantee of a final decision. The applicant is NOT required to do anything for this process to be initiated.
3. Campus based (administered and issued at the particular ROTC program on the college or university campus) scholarship or non-scholarship applicants = The Battalion or Detachment Commander initiates waiver consideration after assessing the candidates overall cadet/midshipman performance.
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