It is a very crazy topic. I've been around this for quite a while. Doesn't matter if it's prep school or straight to the academy. I've seen some who get in and all the had were academics. I've seen others not get in because all they had was academics. I've seen some get in primarily through their athletic achievements. Yet others who were some of the best athletes in the country not get in because it was obvious they only had athletics and they never would have made it academically. The same goes for all the other diversity categories that you can imagine.
The hard part is getting some to understand the whole person and the whole class that the academy is looking for. How do you answer a kid with a 3.9 Gpa and excellent ACT scores why they didn't get in but someone with a lower gpa did? I can honestly say that most of the time, the academy does a good job of getting well rounded cadets. And contrary to what some May think, excelling in athletics counts just like excelling in music, academics, jrrotc, CAP, and many other activities. While I don't believe that a star athlete who has a 2.0 gpa is non advanced classes should get an appointment; I also don't believe that the word athlete should automatically mean that the individual can't make it through the academy and be a great officer. I know plenty of cadets who were also athletes who went on to grad school and finished near the top of their academy class.
My son, graduated the academy a couple years ago, was also an athlete. Because of how good he was in high school in sports, we were asked if that's how he got into the academy. Fortunately he received his appointment early in October and we could show he made it to the academy 100% on his application and not sports. Even though he was later recruited to play sports, he already had his appointment. Then again, he had similar prejudices during high school. No one expected a star athlete to also be in the IB program and graduate number 1 in his class with a 4.0.
Bottom line, no one should be judged. Athlete, female, black, Asian, etc...