You know most elite schools aren't just trying to accept the most academically successful students right? MIT and caltech are the exceptions, but all the other

You know most elite schools aren't just trying to accept the most academically successful students right? MIT and caltech are the exceptions, but all the other ones are optimizing for career success and donations. Having rich, successful parents makes you more likely to be rich and successful, so they accept legacies. Being one of the best in the world at a sport is a good signal that you will succeed at other things, like your career, so these schools accept athletes with worse academic success. When you remember that the goal of admissions is career success all the decisions make sense.