“What do you think would happen if one of the T10 schools decided to accept rising sophomores into their college once they graduated in a guaranteed but binding program”
Acceptance into that sophomore program would then become the new rat race.
I do often wonder if it would be a good thing or not to have an across-the-board cap on how many T20 colleges each student could apply to (say, three). That would force students to think about fit over chasing prestige, but in exchange they might have a slightly higher chance of getting in (okay, only very, very slightly higher, but still…). Those colleges wouldn’t ever agree to that either, though.