Private schools don’t do long shots. The college counselors have longstanding relationships with the Adcom’s and they aren’t going to risk those relationships by writing “this kid is brilliant” when the kid is “less brilliant” than 25 other kids, also applying to the same institution. And they answer to the administration of their own institution, which would not stay in business if it’s employees were writing “This kid is a third generation legacy and pretty smart, although not as smart as the other kids who are applying from our school”.
So what’s the answer? Gatekeeping. A CC at an elite boarding school would rather tell the Adcom at Northwestern or Vanderbilt “this is the top student from our college applying to your college this year” (and have it be truthful) than lie, obfuscate, or hide behind weak euphemisms.
Is it fair? I don’t know. But that’s what you paying for at a top boarding school- college counselors who know the drill, and want to advocate on your kids behalf WHEN APPROPRIATE and when realistic.
The same with colleges which gatekeep for med school applications btw. Why are some schools stats so high on who gets in to med school? Numerator AND denominator. You’re stats are going to zoom once to pull all the marginal applicants (i.e. the long shots) out of the pool. So that’s what they do.