I’m not against the idea of a pre-read type system; I’m assuming the reference to athletic recruiting is not unintentional. It seems to work with a small group of kids with a combination of high expectations, multiple options and (as you mentioned) the money to pay for the extra “service”. This reminds me very much of the system in place up until World War Two when the overwhelming majority of applicants were from full-pay families who knew within a fair degree of accuracy which ivies and little ivies they would likely gain admission to.
It’s a plea to simplify the system, but it’s also a plea to simplify the world we live in where the number of seats at “prestige” colleges has remained stagnant over the past 50 years while the percentage of the country that completes a college degree has doubled. • Americans with a college degree 1940-2018, by gender | Statista