To put some numbers behind what many are trying to explain, a high school with which I am familiar sends about 10 kids a year to Harvard. Looking only at the top tier of students by gpa, an average of around 20-25% of applicants get accepted. However, if you separate out those with traditional hooks (about 75% of whom are accepted), the acceptance rate drops to less than 10%, and even among this group those accepted generally have much more going for them than just great grades and test scores.