There is a student on the Ivy Day thread (I don’t want to be too specific) who got into Stanford EA, but nevertheless plugged ahead and applied to all 8 Ivies. And a total of 16 schools. They said they got a likely call from the dean at Harvard, and was asking how often people get into all 8 ivies. I guess it gives a student a lot of press and splash to get into all 8 ivies. I worry that creates a “trophy-hunting” incentive.
I don’t think “trophy hunting” is the primary cause of the problem we are discussing here, but probably contributes. What could help reduce that?