Remember, maybe 15% of all candidates are members here. Honestly, that might even be high. Usually the appointment list on this site is about 10% of the incoming class.
I honestly would not put too much into it.
Additionally, jmpo, but I think most candidates while in the process do not understand the finesse of the appointment process (charging).
You can have your paperwork in by Nov 1., but if just 1 candidate on yourMOC slate did not submit for the EA, than the MOC cannot be charged. The other issue is the fact that MOCs do not need to submit their slate until January 31st.
I am not a fan of this EA process, but that doesn't matter. Like Christcorp aka Mike stated, they never stopped the rolling process. Once every candidate on the MOC slate has a WCS they can charge the MOC, until that time, that charge is in play and every candidate has until end of Feb. to submit their final paperwork....IE a CFA can hold up the charging for the MOC. That in turn can hold up the EA, because they don't know which of the candidates that submitted for EA will go to the national pool.
~ They can get a clue from historical data if they without a doubt would be appointed off the national.
Before freaking, realize USAFA is the stingiestfor LOAs and I am willing to bet my beloved Myrtle after watching this process twice, that this impo is basically a different version of their LOA.