Sorry, but I don't believe that top-notch Asian-American students have any trouble getting into an excellent school, unless they aim for only one in particular

Sorry, but I don't believe that top-notch Asian-American students have any trouble getting into an excellent school, unless they aim for only one in particular and assume that not getting into that particular school is a failure. If Harvard wanted to, it could require perfect SAT scores, straight-A GPA, and whatever other concrete objective criteria it wanted and STILL have far more students applying than it can accept. They could then use a lottery to select students. But they don't do this. No school does this, even if they could. Elite schools aim for a well rounded student body. This includes even making room for students that show promise but don't meet the usual criteria. It includes legacy admissions, it includes a number of foreign students who pay full tuition, it includes underrepresented minorities. It includes "unicorn" students of all races who have excellent academic records.