<p>OP’s question is excellent. It’s unfortunate that some posters misinterpret it to such an extent.
If an Adcom has three apps and can only admit one, and the only difference is two have 30/31 ACT w/need and the third has 29 w/no need, why not go with the 29? He has so much else going for him and can clearly do the work. This probably won’t work with the top 10, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the next level has some great possibilities. There may be a place to check how the university endowments have been doing, and how much FA was given to the class of 2013 compared to prior years. Yes, the schools are watching their stats, but this has been an unusual year, and I don’t think this next year will be much different. I’ve been so totally surprised at where some kids got in this past year, until I found out they were paying full freight.
Money won’t overcome truly low test scores, gpa, no ecs, etc., but this is a great kid. With wonderful essays and great recs, he’ll get into more places than the “29” might lead one to believe.</p>