<p>Interesting shift in strategy. I wonder how noticeable of an effect this will have on the student body. I could see it greatly benefiting the many well-qualified students who are rejected every year as a result of their lower class rank at a competitive high school. I’m also curious about what the top 1-2% that were traditionally accepted but now get rejected will choose to do. In any case, I don’t see this affecting the average applicant other than receiving a later acceptance. This policy would probably just weed out the students from weaker schools and those that sneak in from a school that graduates 30-something valedictorians a year. Most other students’ essays and extracurricular activities are probably in line (or at least not too far out of line) with what their class rank and standardized testing scores would predict.</p>