I do, unless that promise was made to the child of a Congressional Medal of Honor winner.
Dating back to the 1940s, I have family members on both sides that have attended the service academies and senior military colleges. Some have taught there too.
Although I received a nomination from my Congressman, poor eyesight precluded admission when I tried to get in.
Currently, I have a sibling who instructs at West Point, a cousin who is attending there, and a child who is attending the top senior military college and will be contracting to serve.
Based on what I've seen, the best spin Ben Carson would be able to put on what happened is that he was offered encouragement to apply and, if he had followed through, might have been able to get a letter of recommendation from Westmoreland to support his application.
I was at ft Monmouth twice. It was also the home of the military academy prep school, USMAPS. Congressional appointment is not the only way to get into west point.