The most positive thing about the admissions process is that kids finally get to feel what rejection is like. Our schools and kid sports leagues have devolved to a point where everybody is a "winner" and nobody is being told they suck. Hopefully by experiencing rejections while still in their teens they don't become serial killers when the inevitable rejections come later in life
I can relate a personal episode when my D fell behind with her school and we went to talk to her teachers. She had a C in French at the time, and her French teacher never stopped blabbing about what a great student D is. Great student my ass... it was infuriating to hear a teacher make it look like a C was a perfectly normal and acceptable outcome.