BLUF: That article is a little too optimistic.
I found that article while reading around the internet trying to school myself up about the process and what to expect as a parent. If I had one criticism about it, it would be that it is almost too surface level about the actual chances of getting into an SA. I know that sounds weird - allow me to explain: it talks about nominations, and it talks about scores on tests, and it talks about having approx. an 11% acceptance rate across the different SA's. My beef, if you could even call it that, is that it doesn't dig into just how hard it actually is to get a nomination, and it doesn't talk about how your DS/DD might blow the average test scores out of the water but how they might not get a second glace from an SA or for a nom because they lack leadership experience, or they don't do well on the CFA, or they lack that elusive x-factor. The 11% or whatnot that it references can't be the total acceptance rate from all applicants - I believe it is only based on those that get nominations and are otherwise 3Q, which is a fraction of the total applicants. You can say MIT has an 8% acceptance rate because maybe 30,000 people apply and only 2400 get in. There are thousands and thousands of applicants to the SAs that never get a nomination and therefore never hit the statistics.
My DS is still in the waiting process. He's 3Q, has nominations to all 4 SAs, and has a great resume, but there are thousands just like him - I don't think the article is upfront enough about just how truly challenging the SA process is. My younger son is more than happy to just enjoy his freshman year of HS knowing he isn't interested in all this and therefore won't have to worry about it!!