<p>csdad - you should look at the articles about some of Stanford’s recruited athletes - with much lower scores. When you have athletes that can put your school on network tv for basketball or football, that means big money and big time alumni support. Then again, there are not that many - maybe a few hundred athletes that are superstars in basketball and football with decent stats. Duke and Stanford go after those athletes big time - with no restrictive aid policy like the ivys. A superstar basketball player with a total SAT of 1600/2400 and a decent GPA will always win out over a 2400 / 4.0 applicant at stanford or duke - always!. that makes complete sense when you are a school that wants to get into the national spotlight on tv. There are a ton of smart kids - but not a lot of superstar athletes with decent numbers</p>