A few years ago, I think it was a former Princeton admissions officer had a college advising roadshow, and talked about applicants in terms of a points system, for academics, test scores, and ECs. The highest score in each category is a 7, and his power point showed what kinds of ranges in grades/rigor, scores and ECs fell into each score. I found it particularly interesting to see where ECs fell – 7s were reserved for Intel finalists, musicians winning national competitions etc. As I recall, Varsity captain, editor of the yearbook etc. were 5s – helped put in perspective the tunnel vision we tend to have about our kids who do wonderful things in our local community but are not making an impact on a national scale.