<p>I would also point out that even if want to talk about only those people who actually get top grades in college, there is such a phenomenom as ‘grade compression’ at the top. You keep using the example of Arizona, so, fine, we’ll use that. If you do very well at Arizona, you may get all A’s. But you can’t do better than that. On the other hand, that same student might have gotten all A’s at Yale. What looks better, straight A’s at Arizona, or straight A’s at Yale? I think we can all agree that it’s probably the latter. Hence, the top grades are ‘compressed’. The students at Arizona have less ‘room to run’ than the students at Yale, because you can’t do better than straight A’s. Hence, the point is, at a top school like Yale, the students have more room to run.</p>