There seems to be a criteria and then a sub-criteria only known to admissions.
With that I wholeheartedly agree.
Once the legacy appointments are done, principal political noms, napsters, the athletes (after all it is Div 1) then making sure the class this year is 50% male and 50% female
Sorry, but can't let this pass. Legacy candidates get no breaks. If you don't believe me, ask the MANY, MANY grads whose kids with multiple noms are turned down every year. Happened to quite a few of my classmates. The SAs are not like civilian schools re legacies. BTW, I'm not suggesting that if your mom or dad is SecDef or SecNav, you won't have an advantage. However, the average son or daughter of an alum gets no more benefit than a non-legacy kid who was team captain or did any number of other things.
If, by "principal political noms," you mean principal MOC noms . . . well, someone from each slate will get the appointment. If the MOC wants to dictate who it will be by making a principal nom, that's their choice. USNA has no say in the matter -- they must take that nominee if qualified. If you're suggesting politics plays a role or that nepotism remains, I've never seen evidence of it -- and that includes my own nom from an MOC my parents were working to unseat.
No question that SOME recruited varsity athletes have an advantage. However, again, I've seen more than my share get turndowns. One of my appointees is a recruited major sport athlete but he is also incredibly academically well qualified -- and I do mean incredibly.
As for the dig at females, the percentage of females is around 22% and fluctuates between 20% and 24%. Admissions are gender-blind and have been for more than a decade. What that means is that USNA doesn't consider gender in making admissions decisions, so women have no advantage or disadvantage vs. men. IOW, if USNA takes the best candidates, regardless of gender, they'll get the percentage of women they want for each class.
This is a very sensitive -- and, in some cases -- discouraging time for many on this site. Many, many great young men and women are getting TWEs and no one but folks in Admissions knows why. Comments such as yours really don't help anyone.