It can be so difficult for many people to understand the "WHOLE PERSON" concept when the academy gives appointments. I and Steve (Flieger) as well as many others can tell of first hand accounts of individuals with 4.o type gpa's who didn't get accepted into the academy. Even though they were qualified. It's difficult to understand that the mission of the academy is to "Produce Military Leaders". This isn't the goal or mission of Harvard, Michigan State, University of Texas, Boston College, etc. Not that many leaders haven't come out of the schools; just that it isn't one of their primary missions or goals. They have their requirements, their goals, and their standards. They too will look for diversity and some "Overall" personal attributes. But it isn't like the military academies. That makes it difficult to understand, and sometimes to accept, why a person doesn't receive an appointment to the academy when they have a 3.9+ gpa, a 29+ACT, and a lot of other attributes that would get them accepted into most other schools in the country.
I had a meeting yesterday with one of my applicants who received an appointment last month. I was assisting him fill out some forms. He said how surprised he was, pleasantly surprised, to have received an appointment. Like so many others, he used the traditional requirements of most universities where your acceptance is primarily based on academics, test scores, and essays. We live in Wyoming, and while we will have 20-30 initial interested applicants, it usually drops down to about 15-16 QUALIFIED applicants. We only have 1 representative for the state, so in the end, we will usually only get about 4 appointments a year. Maybe an extra 1-2 if you include Presidential nominations and an individual coming FROM the prep school. So, my candidate (Now Appointee) received an appointment. It wasn't because of gender. He's not a girl. Not based on race. He's white. He's not a recruited athlete. (BTW, none of our Prep School Slots were ever recruited athletes). He wasn't even the #1 student in his class. He had around a 3.6gpa. 29 Composite ACT. So why did he receive an appointment? Why was he one of the lucky 4 and some with the better gpa's and ACT scores didn't? This is where you have to go deep. Look into the WHOLE PERSON. The WHOLE PACKAGE. Did he get accepted and attend Summer Seminar? Yes, but so did some others in our state who didn't receive an appointment. But when you look at the Whole Package, you see the clubs, the extra curricular, the volunteer time, the leadership experiences, involvements in school athletics, (Normal high school athlete, not some super jock being recruited), my interview, MOC nomination, the list goes on. ALL AROUND..... He was a better choice than some of the others who may have had the 3.9-4.0 gpa and the 31-32 ACT. And FWIW, I've had "Recruited Athletes" in past years that were given LOA's or Conditional Appointments, who didn't receive appointments and get to go to the academy.
So, as Navy, Fencing Mamma, and many others have said, Summer Seminar is just another PIECE of the "WHOLE PACKAGE". And as I eluded to in my previous post, it's how you PRESENT your package. It's how you write your application, essays, do your interviews, etc. that will determine whether or NOT the summer seminar, whether boy's state, whether high school sports, whether JrROTC, whether scouts or CAP, or anything else in your package DOES or DOESN'T Help you get an appointment. Applying to the academy is no different than applying for a job. Some people's resumes and interviews are better than others. Some people PRESENT them better. Some people just fit the opening better than some others. Not sure if any of this information will be able to help the next round of applicants. Not sure if it helps some understand why they did or didn't receive an appointment. In a traditional school/university, you can pretty much build a check list of all the things you need to get accepted. Then, you just hope there's enough slots and you get one. The academy isn't like that. There is no magic check list. You could have 2 identical individuals. With identical classes, grades, ACT scores, etc. and one can receive an appointment and the other one doesn't. How they portray themselves in the application. The Whole Package. Their ALO interviews. Their MOC interviews. Their teacher's recommendations. etc. Best of luck.