<p>A correction.
<a href="I%20wrote:">quote</a> Perfect old-SAT when only about 300 people a year achieved it, would certainly have been a "hook". Perfect SAT or ACT today puts you in a pool of several thousand, and many more thousands considering the variation in scores.
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<p>Both numbers are too high by a factor of 10. SAT of 1600 before the recentering was about 30 people a year, now it is in the low hundreds. I think I was remembering a figure of 300+ perfect-SAT applicants to Harvard one year, most of whom were rejected. Naturally the rejection rate would be lower among those who confirmed their test supremacy with several additional perfect scores.</p>