Then, a couple of days later, I ran into a neighbor who was shopping the colleges with her son, a high school senior. She was not in a very good mood. He has good grades. He has SATs to die for. But he won't get in.
Nobody gets in anymore.
Some kids do, of course. To say nothing of their resumes loaded with extracurricular feats. Obviously, these kids are not typical. Nowadays, kids are applying to Harvard who have taken their SATs in fifth grade. The bar has been raised so high that it's almost impossible for a lot of deserving kids to clear.