<p>OK, but I’d guess there are a lot of “two-fers”, e.g., URM & first gen, or even URM & first gen & athlete, or the legacy who may not make the Dean’s list but is a terror on the lacrosse field. Still, it might be 40% at Dartmouth. But these are not all going to be in the bottom half of the class, either. I think the correct statement should be “schools lower the admissions standards a lot for <em>some of</em> those kids.” In many cases they might be perfectly plausible candidates for admission even without the hook; the hook may be what distinguishes them from the 9 similarly-credentialed candidates who aren’t offered admission, but it doesn’t involve a lowering of admissions standard in all cases, maybe not even in most cases.</p>