Given how so many students posting here apparently are not aware of “level of applicant’s interest” to begin with (now, imagine a typical high school with an overworked counselor dealing with hundreds of students who may not mention such admission nuances to each student), it is more likely that word will get out that admissions are more “random”-looking even when one gets away from the super-selective schools and is looking at apparent “match” or “safety” schools, which would drive students to increase the number of applications, rather than more carefully selecting a smaller number of applications. Also, even a student highly interested in a school may not know how to “show interest” to that school’s satisfaction (e.g. @bodangles ), and some methods to “show interest” (e.g. applying ED or a non-local visit) would not be suitable for students from non-wealthy families.