@econdude - I’m not sure how holistic admissions sank this kid’s UCLA app. He has a great profile of ECs but he also has a strong, but not stratospheric GPA. If he were judged only by his GPA and first set of test scores (objective assessment) you certainly can’t blame a few admissions misses on the athletes and minorities. Then, who knows . . . maybe the young, stubborn, immature, know-it-all kid who his mom describes came out in the essays.
The only fail I see here is the failure of some parents and student to grasp that there are a lot of hard working, smart, interesting, talented kids in the world and they can’t all go to Stanford.