Test scores and grades are far better criteria than that socioeconomic nonsense. It would be better if American colleges admitted purely on academic factors. Th

Test scores and grades are far better criteria than that socioeconomic nonsense. It would be better if American colleges admitted purely on academic factors. They'd also get better students, even if they'd lose their elitist "mystique". I think that the extracurricular "holistic" component is deeply harmful. If the top universities admitted on academic criteria, then Americans would accept that not everyone good-- because there clearly are good students who aren't great at standardized tests; "not a good test-taker" is a real thing-- goes to Harvard (which is true anyway) and get over it. I certainly know smart people who were mediocre students in high school. The extracurricular bullshit (which is, in fact, heavily socioeconomic and racial and always has been) is a bit of branding that works wonders on 17-year-old kids, and their parents, by creating the appearance that college admissions are a "holistic" judge of the applicant as a person. It's brilliant insofar as it drives up tuitions (even at less prestigious schools) but it's really bad for society.