<p>(1) One anecdote does not discrimination prove.
(2) I do not believe they are straight-out lying when they say they are need-blind; if they are capable of that level of deception, someone should probably sue the school. I don’t believe that that’s called for.
(3) “Objective” is a straw man. Who would say “ah, these are objectively the best”? That’s hard.
(4) I do think they do a pretty good job of selecting the best applications. Not people, not resumes, applications. Sometimes a very impressive person can come off poorly (or just flat) through essays or recommendations. Sometimes a surprising person can come off better than expected on the application. I don’t see other people’s applications, but, seeing the quality of my classmates, I trust that Harvard usually (although obviously not always) gets it right.</p>