<p>As you look at the most selective schools in the country, they may each only have room to accept 10% or so of their applicant pool, but the SATs and GPAs of the top half or even three-quarters of the applicant pool are likely to be so clustered near the maximums that there’s no meaningful distinction between them. The qualitative difference between a 2300 / 4.0 and a 2200 / 3.9 is basically nil. So it tends to be the special value added that a student brings which may tip the admissions decision. Either having a quality or talent that has the potential to bring value to campus life or having accomplishments that suggest that you have the long-range potential to significantly impact the world is a pretty good hook to go along with good grades and test scores.</p>