For ecs, depth is important. This hypothetical kid may be just fine in that department. But just because another applicant has breadth, doesn’t mean they were simply ‘resume’ building. I think this hypothetical kid, with the 32, would have a chance if he demonstrates extraordinary writing. But your reasoning seems to go something like this, my kid is truly special and will take advantage of all that Yale has to offer, while all the kids with the ACTs at the 99th percentile and tons of ecs will not.
I do think a 3.85/32 student will be successful at a school like Yale(provided the rigor is there), but I also think there is a definite difference between a 30 and a 36. Both excellent scores, but one rare and indicative of something different.
The other thing to note are the subscores. The 36 in English is fantastic. But does that mean the math is below 30? Top schools don’t like big disparities. They expect the English major to also be strong in math, and the physics major to be strong in English. You see that a lot on CC. ‘I’m going to be a history major, so it won’t matter if my math score is low, or I only took 2 years of high school language’ It matters.