An “extremely competitive” candidate could be viewed as someone who received any or all of the following: 3 SA offers of appointment and or LOE, LOA, early LOA ( kid in DS class at NASS received one at NASS), offer of appointment was made extremely early in the cycle, or some other perceived “extremely competitive” benchmark. It still remains that they are a candidate same as anyone else accepting their offer of appointment.
At the end of the admissions cycle, that “EC” candidate will be joining the rest of their class on RDay. From that point forward, all are the same, and it’s anyone’s guess how all of the candidates will turn out or even finish BEAST let alone graduate, and NO ONE cares how you got there!
Oh, and those who received the TWE back a cycle or two and now have joined your class, they may end up being on top of the OML and top of the class by graduation!
My advice to ALL of the candidates receiving and accepting offers of appointments to an SA: enjoy, celebrate, continue to study and train, spend time with family, stay out of trouble, stay healthy, and stay humble....