I think it was more your WCS in the end that got you the Appointment. DS's FFR was less than communicative, would reply to emails one, maybe two weeks later, and yet DS received his appointment in January. Don't sell yourself short by saying you were the squeaky wheel, YOU DESERVED IT. Congrats!
For SLE you will not be drug tested. If you smoke on campus you will be kicked out and will not be able to apply for USMA as you will ruin your chances. You have an upperclass cadet in charge of your group at SLE, and they also write their review of you after the week is over which will come...
It depends how much higher the SAT scores went. If it's a significant jump over 700 in Math and English then you get more points awarded to your WCS. The final time DS took the SAT's, his score jumped 50 points and his state coordinator told him that put him significantly higher in his ranking.
I hope I'm wrong, but the portal usually updates the appointment and then BFE comes days if not a week later. That's how it's worked for every acceptance I've read, including DS's.
If you have an appointment, on the lefthand side there will be a box underneath where they write describing the status colors. It will say "Offered USMA Appointment" and will ask you to accept or decline. It is hard to miss.
Not sure if you've all checked on the Self-Updating Appointment list, but looks like there were candidates last week and today who've received appointments. So the next round of candidates should have heard something today.
DS received his appointment over the phone on a Wednesday, then the portal updated that Friday morning. For appointments, that's the only way I've seen them updated, on Fridays. However, after accepting the appointment, I have received notifications through the portal on Mondays, Saturdays, and...
I stand corrected. DS received an email on a Saturday from a staffer and they corresponded back and forth a few times, and today as well. I guess they are even working weekends.