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Post being replied to
One aspect of this by pmac98
is that while everyone nods along with ideas of "no legacies" and "rich people shouldn't get preferential treatment"; in reality, less advantaged applicants WANT to get in and rub shoulders with rich folks.
Maybe not ND as much, but half the reason to go to Harvard or Yale is to build connections with rich people that you wouldn't ordinarily have the opportunity to do so. Maybe your roommate's dad will fund your startup because he's obscenely wealthy. If your roommate's dad is just some working schmuck, where's the connection to be made?
If everyone got in on test scores and high school GPA alone, these places would no longer serve that purpose.
A bit of chicken and the egg, I think.