You are correct.
Do you happen to know by which of those methods Ben Carson was “offered a full scholarship to West Point”.
My guess would be, since he was talking to the CofStaff of the Army that it would have been a superintendent appointment for gifted atheletes, scholars. The CoS would call West Point, and it would be done. It sounds like Carson thought about it and then went a different direction.
At the time, the military wasn’t a choice that many would make.