I had posed a similar question on another forum but would like to poll this group to @ucbalumnus point.
Specifically, if chancing a student, how much does a 35-36 ACT or 1550+ SAT raise that student’s chances for top 20 colleges in YOUR mind versus similar students assuming these students have acceptable EC, ample rigor, and a high GPA (say 4.0 UW) but no hooks.
I acknowledge that some schools value high stats more than others, but I can’t ignore that stats matter for the colleges even though they love throwing out the word holistic all the time.