<p>Well, there was an example of an RSI attendee in last year's Harvard applicant pool who didn't get accepted by Harvard--he did get accepted at some other very cool schools--so even that VERY PRESTIGIOUS summer program can sometimes be not enough for getting into Harvard. That's about as fine a manufactured characteristic a student can have, and it still isn't always enough. I will agree with you that those ECs are not routine nationwide, not at all, but Harvard gets enough of each of those ECs in its applicant pool that any one of them doesn't make for a lock on admission.</p>