“My real point, though, is that there’s a world of difference between very-high-stats (e.g., 2300/35) and perfect-stats in terms of the net you can cast.”
Of course, as you go lower down the scores, the number of test takers and potential applicants increase, by a significant number. But there’s not a whole lot of difference between a 2300 and 2400, in fact there are students now that are taking both SAT and ACT and getting a 36/2300, so in these cases they’re the same person, they just found one test easier. Secondly, the college board gives ranges that show that a 2400 has a range of 2300 to 2400 while a 2300 could have a range of 2250-2350, meaning that if they retook the tests, they could get the same score.
What is this difference you talk about, is a 2400 someone that goes to the library, studies all the time and doesn’t do much for the high school while the 2300 gives up the 100 points on the test so he or she can run the mock trial team when they’re a senior or captain the soccer team?