Garland, you’ve misinterpreted my post. Clearly, the NMF commended kids at an average HS are standouts. It’s the REST of the student body- many of whom might be Vals, perfect GPA’s, honor roll, standouts at HS awards night for every academic prize under the sun- who may be getting all A’s in a highly grade inflated environment.
Kids who excel, excel. And adcom’s don’t hold the school against the kid. But there needs to be more than a 4.0 GPA going on when the school isn’t a terribly rigorous learning environment.