Every time academic stats get emphasized in the context of super-selective colleges, it always comes up that everything else (extracurriculars, essays, etc.), magnified in importance in the colleges’ admissions readings when so many applicants have top-end stats, is often ignored by those discussing the subject, simply because it is inconvenient to quantify with outsider-visible information.
The analogous situation within the realm of academic stats is the overemphasis on SAT/ACT scores, simply because they are a conveniently available measure at almost all selective colleges, even though that ignores or minimizes the effect of high school record that is usually as important or more important to the colleges making admission decisions.