3rd timer
A little more on your question, as soon as you are selected or picked as an alternate, get you med stuff, acceptances and degree plan taken are of. Especially if you are an alternate. they will take you first if they know you are medically eligable and the other alternates are still not confirmed. Thats how i got it. I was an alternate originally but got my med package in the week of the results coming out.
wlawr005 is right about the orders. Everyone i went to NSI with got their orders in dec/jan timeframe. some alternates were a bit later for obvious reasons. I got a call from Ed Straton telling me I was selected from the alternate list and giving me the dates I would be attending NSI in Dec, right around christmas, but I didnt have official orders until early Feb.
When you go to NSI depends. They do multpile classesover the summer. This year we had a class start in Feb and one in May. You can start school right after NSI, so if you are classed up in Feb you will finish in April in time for the summer period for your school depending on your individual schools start dates, if May then you will finish in July and will start in the Fall.
I hope this helps and if you have any of you have more questions, feel free to PM me and I will help if I can.