<p>“Looks like a lot of people were turned down, which implies that they were mistaken in thinking that they had what it takes to be at swarthmore.”</p>
<p>This is illogical. Students who are qualified get rejected at Swarthmore, the same as at most other very selective institutions. Just because “all” (i’ll use hyperbole for emphasis) of the applicants may be a good fit for Swarthmore doesn’t mean the school can accept them all… Maybe you don’t understand what self-selection means. Just because a certain number of students have been weeded out given the nature of the institution and its appeal doesn’t mean that kids who apply aren’t going to be a good fit in some way or another. You’re defining self-selection as a case in which a school has an application pool as large as their incoming class; because that’s the only way your definition of self-selection works. Because in any OTHER case, in which they’re getting more kids than they can accept (and it’s not as if a school is right only for the number of people they can take on as freshmen) some kids who might do well at the school are gonna get rejected.</p>