<p>wjb, Yes, “claimed” is probably an overstatement. Here’s what they said: “In short, it appears that MIT and Harvard do not engage in strategic admissions, although Harvard probably cares more about factors uncorrelated with the SAT score than MIT does. Yale appears to practice a bit of strategic admission – avoiding the area where Harvard competition is tough and students are not worth fighting (and perhaps often losing) for. Princeton appears to practice more stategic admissions – avoiding the same area Yale avoids, but more so. If we were to show more schools – such as Stanford or Brown – that we later rank similarly to Princeton, we would see that their figures display similar patterns. While figure 1 is hardly definitive, it provides evidence that even a highly prestigious school may practice strategic admissions.” Of course, no one not in admissions knows for sure – just a theory. Also, as I noted earlier, the dynamic has certainly shifted since 2005 w/ Harvard dropping early admissions and Yale introducing SCEA, so may no longer apply (if it ever did).</p>