Kayak- if you were to ask me about a high stat kids with solid but not distinctive EC’s and everything else, I think i could be reasonably accurate if we’re talking about Vanderbilt, Emory, Brandeis. Being in the high end of the 90th percentile at those college IS a hook. All things being equal, an unhooked kid (assuming we’re talking about a suburban kid with college educated parents, good school system, etc.) isn’t going to squeak into Yale or Princeton on the basis of a 35 ACT-- again, assuming nothing extraordinary about the kid/application.
Is that your question?