This may actually be making Vulcan’s point.
Why should his kids, and those like his kids, be compared to the kids you describe during the admissions process when the reference point is academic preparation and a desire to be academically challenged in college. I get that that is frustrating.
I promise you those kids are not competing with Vulcans kids for college admissions. They are not being compared to them, they are not interested in the highly rejectives.
It’s just because it’s decision time - I think. I agree with all your points.
No, not Vulcan’s kids because MIT doesn’t give a huge athletic boost. But at the at Ivys, Stanford etc, yes. The few kids from our large suburban high school who get in are usually recruited athletes, and they do miss quite a bit of school. Their stats are noticeably lower too.
I agree with you for the most part.
I do believe that the system worked as it should for Vulcan’s kids. My guess, based upon his description of them, is that they were as hooked at the primary colleges they applied to as high level athletes are at D1 schools. My assumption is that CalTech and MIT knew exactly who his kids were before they applied and were likely being recruited by those schools. Perhaps not, but I would like to think that they were (if not, then maybe the system is broken). I would not be shocked if there was zero comparison between his kids and those that you describe (even if they applied to CalTech and MIT). My guess would be that their applications were treated differently, much like the ESPN 300 player applying to Notre Dame is treated differently to the NARP (a new acronym for me) applying there.
My kid told me that also seemed to be the case at his school (a large public) with Stanford specifically. He commented that if those are the kids going there (representing the sort of kids in their student body), he was glad he hadn’t bothered with that application… 
He also said the kids who got into MIT were clearly (to him) the ones best suited for MIT and he was glad for them. So, MIT’s admissions process seemed (to him) to be working properly. One high school student’s opinion anyway… 
I’m describing kids who end up at Adelphi and Pace, not athletic applicants to MIT… Get a grip! Do none of you know actual kids IRL who aren’t interested in busting their butts in college???
My point was that if you’re just looking at stats, and didn’t know the entire profile, you would just see “lesser stats than my kid who got rejected.”
And it seems to me some of the argument for stats based admission is that kid should NOT get in.
I don’t even want to comment publicly where I think he will or should end up 
I think you have to cheat way better than that for an Ivy!
MIT gives a huge boost to recruited athletes (they couldn’t field the highly successful programs that they have otherwise) but it isn’t a guarantee like at many schools. Athletes at MIT are academically indistinguishable within the student body. Pretty much the same at the other highly rejective D3 schools so if your students are getting into those schools you are misinformed on their academic credentials.
In the Ivy league there are some lower strength admits in the helmet sports but in other sports there is no real difference. There is alot more nuance than many on this board would like to admit.
Yes, they ended up at some of the same schools as the ones who busted their tails at private/magnet programs. To clarify: Some not all. I think that’s the rub
If the Ivies and Stanford and Duke are so full of athletes and legacies who bring down the academics of those schools, why would the smartest kids with all the stats even want to go to those schools? Why wouldn’t they all just want to go to MIT and Cal Tech and Reed and UChicago which don’t care about athletes. Maybe a few would wander over to Hopkins which only lets in a few lacrosse players on scholarship each year, but otherwise looks at test scores and that A+ average. Hopkins may be acceptable to those who don’t want to go to college with those who got in with lower grades and scores but with maybe a more interesting life? (I worked with some students from Hopkins when I lived near the school and was often told they were an academic school and they ‘just couldn’t follow the national organization’s rules.’ Yes, I thought they were snobs).
I really think Harvard accepts the class they want to and that it is fair overall. May not seem fair to the Val/1600 who doesn’t get it, but that student, IMO, wasn’t able to stand out on the application from all the other Val/1600s who did get in.
Reading posts on CC you’d think every other kid was applying to Harvard when that is actually the exception. Even at our upper middle class suburban high school where there are plenty of excellent students, only about 15-20% of the class is looking at highly selective colleges. Most families are happy to send their kids to schools where they can get an education but also have fun.
I do see the same level of angst and comparison at less selective schools. Particularly UF.
But is that an admissions problem, and if so how would it be fixed?
I don’t think you can fix angst. It’s part of life - will I get the job? will I make the team? even will I be invited to Prom!
There isn’t enough room for everyone to be accepted to every school they want to go to, to get picked for every job, to be the Prom Queen. It doesn’t mean the system is broken.
Is the match process broken because every med student in America cannot become a dermatologist? Or that a prospective urologist can either have a great work/life balance at a second tier teaching hospital, or a terrible work /life balance at a renowned teaching hospital…but not both?
Life is filled with tough trade-offs. As you have so accurately noted!
Yes, here at my son’s extremely competitive suburban Houston high school, the only student I personally know of who is going to a super elite university is a football recruit to Harvard. Perhaps there will be more once the whole March/April admissions cycle in through.
Totally agree. There was some grumbling after decisions went out last year. Some more vitriolic than others. I understand it because people are emotional about their kids.
Of all the kids I know of from my kid’s school who applied, I wasn’t surprised by the ones who got in. I was surprised by a few who did not. One was a little shocking.
Actually, Johns Hopkins is one of the most “interesting” prestige schools in terms of admissions. For those who care, here is a link to its common data set: Common Data Set 2022-23 - Office of Institutional Research and Analytics.
Only 44% and 15% of new students, respectively, submitted an SAT or ACT. And, from the “Fast Facts” page on the Hopkins website, the most recent freshman class was just 18% white (not including any white folks among internationals), compared with 14% and 20% black and Latino, respectively. Make of this info what you will.