I think the idea was that MIT and Stanford don't even care about the "two pieces of flair" (i.e. extracurriculars), but most successful applicants to those scho

I think the idea was that MIT and Stanford don't even care about the "two pieces of flair" (i.e. extracurriculars), but most successful applicants to those schools will have them so they can also apply to Harvard etc., which effectively require them. The result is that even the non-academic stuff those students have done has an academic target.