I never said they did. However, it would seem to me that if all completed packages went immediately before the board, that it would not take as long as it does for many to find out if they are qualified or not.
Those familiar with the AFA process have indicated to me that the selection process works pretty much the same as the Naval Academy so here goes my third hand once removed interpretation of how the AFA process might work. A completed package is received by Admissions and is initially scored by them, not the Board. It will then go before the Board for fine tuning and a final qualified/unqualified determination. So, why will all records not go immediately before the board? First off, the qualified lower end cutoff will vary from year to year. If you will notice, they normally qualify only about 33% more than the number to which they offer appointments. Therefore, the more qualified the class, the higher this cutoff will be and until a substantial portion of the packages have been reviewed by admissions, the general area and then specific point of this cutoff cannot be determined. It is an elusive floating target. Therefore, on marginal packages a qualified/unqualified decision cannot readily be made during the early board sessions. Secondly, marginal records will probably benefit from additional senior year first semester inputs including retaking of SATs/ACTs. Therefore, unless the board spends extra time looking at records twice, it will behoove them to commence with the most highly qualified, get the LOAs out early where they will benefit most, and work their way down the pile, allowing these additional inputs prior to their review. My very limited anecdotal evidence seems to support the marginal not receiving a decision until much later in the process, no matter how quickly they submitted their initial package. Therefore, if an ALO senses, not "decides", that a package might not be LOA material, there is really no super rush to get it before admissions. Sitting on an unanswered email for a week might not be a big deal. Perhaps an ALO could weigh in and tell us if, where and how my assumptions are incorrect?
Please allow me to pose a totally hypothetical question to you. Lets say, for example that the Board can review ten records per week and for their first session, fifty records are available. Would it not be in everyone's best interest if the ten most qualified were reviewed first. If they were done totally in order of receipt, it would be possible in this hypothetical instance for an LOA not to find out for nearly two months which might cause them to go elsewhere.