Here’s a link to the Harvard Magazine review of Daniel Golden’s book, The Price of Admission:
http://harvardmagazine.com/2006/11/admissions-equity-html
Daniel Golden is a Harvard alum who won a Pulitzer Prize for his 2003 Wall Street Journal series on college admissions. His book is based on his reporting for the series. The OP is asking about the “Frist effect” that is described in the book.