Thank you! As for what kept you back, you can ask your ALO or admissions counselor as to why, specifically, you were not chosen over other candidates. I decided to email my admissions counselor, but they just told me "eh, there were people that were better". Was hoping I could get more details but hopefully your ALO or counselor could provide you details as to why. If your comfortable sharing with me, I could also give my two cents as to why. Going to NWP as a "free agent" or self prep (I'm assuming you are since thats what it sounds like) is a bit of a gamble. The Durbecks are good at what they do and can help the holes in your application. If you do go to NWP and believe it is your SAT scores, they can help you with that. However, it ultimately boils down to your effort and how much you raise it by. The cliche saying stands very true, you can bring a horse to water but you can't force it to drink. Even if you dunk the head of the horse into the water and the horse refuses to drink, it will die of thirst. It is the same way at NWP. The teachers there will do their best to make you score better on those standardized tests. I can say for sure, that Ms. Becker, the english teacher, raised my score a substantial amount that really helped my application.
As for what the academy noticed, I'm not too certain. This was my second time applying I think the biggest difference was my English ACT score and my interviews. The ALO interview that I had done was mediocre (at best) and I believe my essay was was well written as well. What I could've talked about was poorly chosen and just thinking about it makes me facepalm. This year, I believe I had a great interview with my ALO and portrayed my personal character in the essay much better. The academies put very high value who you are as a character. SAT/ ACT scores, GPA, etc all those numbers mean a lot but the academy's jobs are to create officers, not perfect students.