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Whistle Pig; the initial assignment is no big deal, unless you are going into some speciality where they take a limited number. Does it really matter if you are the first person to select Navy air or the 300th? I do not think so. Does it matter that your ship is homeported in San Diego vice Norfolk? Professionally, no. Once you get to your first duty station, no one cares that you graduated first in your class from USNA. You are just another in the long line of new ensigns that have reported on board over the past many years. It is now time for you to grow professionally and prove yourself as an officer. Why does a body of officers need to reflect the ethnicity of the enlisted? My personal belief and answer is role models. We are an all volunteer force that expects the citizens to stand up and become members of our armed forces. We need to reach out to everyone. We need to demonstrate that there are opportunities for advancement for everyone. We need to show that becoming an officer or senior enlisted is based on performance and nothing else. As for lower ranked high school students, I would actually prefer to have the person working for me who worked hard to get C's rather than the person who did nothing and got A's and B's. The person who worked hard for the C's is probably a more goal driven, get the job done individual. Based on my experience in the fleet with USNA grads, I think the admissions process has worked out really well.
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