<p>I can’t comment on the Drinking under age. I know the academy frowns on this, but how much weight to lend to that offense is up to them. Plus, if there’s more than enough applicants, they may not feel compelled to need to cut any slack. Remember; they start out with approximately 10,000 prospects. That goes down to about 6000 applicants. That then goes down to about 2500 candidates. Out of that, they select approximately 1600. Of those, approximately 1350 will walk into BCT summer training in June. Of that; approximately 1270 will make it out of there and actually become a “Cadet” and start school. 4 years later, there will be approximately 975 that graduate. How much weight they will put on his drinking offense is totally up to them.</p>
<p>Concerning the nomination; someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but everyone must have a nomination in order to get into the academies. This includes athletes and such. Now, prior military (Active enlisted) have a different process. Also, there are different types of nominations besides a senator or congressman/woman. These include presidentials as 1 example. But, for all intent and purpose, every candidate will need a nomination.</p>
<p>Having said that; if the academy thinks highly of the candidate, and gives them a Letter of Assurance; many senators and representatives will give the benefit of the doubt and give the nomination. They figure if the academy thinks highly enough of this individual, then they will trust that opinion. Not a guarantee, but it helps. If they still don’t get the nomination, they can be put into a national pool for slots that free up. If your son is going at it head to head with the other state applicants and doesn’t have an LOA or some sort of special consideration, then it’s going to be difficult. I have senators here who won’t even interview a person if they have ANY legal issues against them. They feel that there are plenty other candidates with just as good of grades without such problems. Why even consider it. But then again, each senator or rep is different.</p>
<p>Anyway, hope this info helps. If I got any part of it incorrect, hopefully one of the others can correct me. Merry Christmas.</p>