I am replying to not only the poster, but for others in general. Nothing written here is personal about any particular applicant. In a over simplified explanation: When they reviewed it initially, "Part of the EA program", they were looking for the scores and applicants who were at the very top. Based on years of scores and statistics, they are pretty good at recognizing applications that are at the top. Those "Top" applications are the ones who are the best in each Nomination category and those with overall scores that are stellar. Basically, it's the ones they know will score high enough to receive an appointment no matter who they are compared to. Remember; the EA program is basically designed to give the academy a competitive chance against other universities and the other academies for applicants who are going to have many offers.
This isn't to lower the hope of anyone who didn't get selected prior to Mid-January. The EA program was designed to help those stellar applicants know sooner, because they probably would receive numerous other acceptance letters from other schools prior to the March-April time frame. The academy realized that by waiting until March-April, they were losing a lot of high end applicants to other schools because they accepted other sure offers instead of holding out and waiting for the academy to make a decision. So the academy came up with the EA program so if you finished the application in time, you would know, and they would know, sooner if you were a definite appointee, a no, or a competitive candidate.
So what does deferred mean? It means that your application is competitive, but you are going to be COMPARED to the other applicants who are also competitive and you'll be ranked accordingly. Let me explain it a little differently. Let me explain how it was BEFORE the EA program came about a couple years ago, and how it is today.
A couple years ago, lets say you were the very first person in the country who completed their application. Let's say it was July. Your application sat and waited until the review board started to meet and review the application. (Usually around the end of September). They scored your application. Depending on your scores, and their statistics of past scores, they would decide where you stood. Basically, there were 3 categories. 1) You had a non-MOC nomination already; e.g. presidential and your scores were stellar. They might offer you an early appointment around October/November. (Very small number of people). 2) You didn't have a nomination yet, because most MOC's didn't do theirs until Nov/Dec, but you had stellar scores, so they MIGHT offer you an LOA (Letter of Assurance). If you do get a nomination, and pass you physical and medical, then you're guaranteed an appointment. 3) All others who have competitive scores, and you'll compete against the 9 others on your MOC's nomination slate, or other slate, or in the national pool. This 3rd group usually had to wait until the March/April time frame. This is the MAJORITY of all applicants. Probably in the 80-85% range of applicants.
How did the EA affect or change this? Basically, they combined number 1&2 in the previous paragraph. IF your application was completed 100% prior to November 1st; you passed your physical and medical; and you received a nomination; (Hence the reason for January, so the nominations from MOCs were completed); then the academy would let you know immediately if you A) Received an appointment; B) WON'T receive an appointment; or C) Will be considered with the majority in the March/April time frame. Too many people think the EA is some special program that they were selected for, because they were better than average. Unfortunately, this isn't true. Not to pop anyone's bubble, but in the beginning of the application process, all information to that point about you is "SELF IDENTIFIED". They know very little about you in June/July. Most people are EA. I had 11 applicants this year. 9 were EA. The ONLY REASON the other 2 WEREN'T is because they are both active duty airmen. but ALL of my high school applicants were EA. Sorry if that makes some people not feel as special as they thought they might have been for being EA Eligible. And the purpose of this EA program, was to let the applicant know earlier if they were one of the STELLAR applicants who would definitely get an appointment. This wasn't to really help the applicants. It was so the academy might have a better chance of you, the stellar applicant, saying YES to the academy instead of yes to one of the other university offers you received early. Again; most of these stellar applicants also received a lot of other offers. Many would accept one of these others because they didn't want, or couldn't wait, until March/April to make a decision.
For the final part of your question. Once your application is reviewed by the board, it receives a score. Actually, it is multiple scores that create a composite score. E.g. academics, leadership, community, team, physical, etc. Once your score is computed, that's it. Your application is never looked at again. (UNLESS something changes). E.g. updated SAT/ACT scores or something you added prior to the Jan 30 cutoff. The only difference here is; when it was reviewed under the EA Period, it was to determine if your application/scores were such that you were definitely the tops and they KNEW they were going to offer you an appointment. Therefor, they'd let you know early, in the hope that you would say yes to the academy instead of another school. If you were deferred, then you went into the normal competition against others. (Nomination lists and national pool). That's why there are appointments being given out periodically since January. Maybe you weren't the "Best of the Best" and knew by Jan 15th, but you were the Best on your MOC list, so you received that. Maybe your MOC used the Principal Nomination for you and you received an appointment earlier than March/April. So no, unless something was added to your application, there is no need for it to every be reviewed again. You have a score. e.g 842 points. That score will be used to compete with all others on your MOC list or on the national pool. When your application is reviewed, it's either YES they are 100% qualified, here's their score to COMPETE WITH.... or NO, they aren't qualified and you are dropped out of any further consideration. The review part of the application is to determine HOW MANY POINTS you receive. It's not something that can be done with a computer. There's a lot of subjectivity to it.
Even though this was a long answer, believe it or not it was still an Over-Simplified answer. Hope it helps. Mike.