@EconPop I get that but our kids go to a big public rigorous high school where kids are always competing against each other in a not-so-great way. When you go to school that day and kids in your calc class are bragging about getting a letter from Harvard, it becomes part of the discussion. Who else got that letter? Who is applying? I heard parents talking about those Ivy letters at XC meets. They were so excited their kids got them. Time to get on that Harvard app and hope for an interview. THAT’S why these are bad. I tried to talk the parents down. Told them to look at our school’s history with Harvard (and the other Ivies). Told them that all Harvard knows about them is one score and almost everyone who applies there has that score. Most parents listened. Some did not and those poor boys spent HOURS applying to most ivies only to get rejected from all. I don’t believe they would have applied to those schools if they had no received those letters.