I'm OTS, I applied Febuary 2008 and start Basics on October 22. So doing the obvious math (and I think I went relatively quickly) it was almost a 9 month process. At my PEPC in memphis in July they gave me my TOL and an estimated starting date of January 2009, but that got moved way up thankfully. I've been done with school for about 6 years and am already in a stable job so I have just continued to work it out. I personally think you should take the best offer out there that you can get. Nothing's guaranteed with this in my opinion. There's always what if's, and if you for some medical reason or whatever other reason did not get accepted at least you are already in a stable situation with the way the economy is going right now. That is tough because most of us don't like to knowingly take advantage of a company, but I would do what's best for you until you get that FOL.