If you can go into my account - http://wirejewelryartists.memberlodge.org
I just created the member Sue Espy, level=general member. It is the only general member out there. (Well now there is 2, I tried adding a test field with radio buttons to verify I had tried that.) I started on the member application and went through the entire process, including making a paypal payment. I then went in and opened it via the control panel.
System Fields look correct. Member Information that the member completes looks correct.
Member Sub-groups, that the member can not complete, is completely blank. That is where I believe I should see the default values auto-filling, putting in "no" or "---" as applicable. Then, somewhere down the road as the member qualifies, admin will change the appropriate field to "yes".
No matter what I do, I can not get a default value into the field, as Dmitry's comment leads me to believe I should be able to. All of the fields are multiple choice. All have 3 possible answers. All have the top box checked with a green arrow. I've tried marking them mandatory and not marking them mandatory. They just don't take. I've also tried making them radio buttons - same results.
Regarding -
I think the option that you need to use is Member access -> Edit: in own profile or in application.
If you select View only the field will not show up on the application form, it will only be visible on member profile as a read only field.
The entire point of picking view only is that we do not want the members to be able to edit these fields! Only to view them in profile.