Definitely not.(went to Yale). I had great grades (valedictorian) and decent standardized test scores. Some leadership in ECs, but not any time consuming ones. But I was able to get those without working hard. The amount of homework required at our high school is mind boggling. I don’t know that I would have been motivated to do all that work, ace my classes, and do all the intense activities that kids do these today. My kid is rarely home before 7 with EC’s, and she has started her own business!. When I was in hs, outside of school I mostly hung out with friends and read (a lot - mostly classics).
@mom2022 Rory Gilmore, is that you? 
@overbearingmom Nope - Wasn’t Rory a workaholic?
@mom2022 allegedly, but really we only saw her hanging out with Lane or the flavor of the week and reading. And of course, as Paris’s rival. As far as I know, her only EC was the school paper, but she was legacy at Yale. I think if she wasn’t fictional, no way would she have gotten into Yale and Harvard. OTOH, the elder Gilmores had deep pockets and someone has to pay full freight.
@overbearingmom She was a legacy AND first generation college - unless her father managed to get a college degree at some point