The trophy hunting is really not as big a deal as most would think. First, most of those high end school apps require a lot of effort. Most of the kids applying to these schools have a clear favorite and would be happy to not do the apps for the other schools if they didn’t have to. My son had a whole stack of HYPS level essay prompts sitting on his desk that he was going to do over Christmas break. His EA acceptance to his top choice meant that he could happily forget about doing any more essays and start planning for the next phase of his life. Most of his friends are in the same boat. They aren’t collecting trophies, they are aiming for a couple of top schools and want to forget about the whole process as soon as possible.
60% of the students at most top schools are full pay so for over half of the kids, it’s not about shopping for a deal or looking for FA.
More EA options would help limit applications. It would get a lot of kids out of the process earlier. It worked for us. A list of 15 turned into a list of 5 overnight when the first two EA acceptances came in.
Harder or more thorough applications would help too. The UC schools are a great example of a horribly inefficient process. All the kids have to do is check a box (and add $70) to apply to as many as they want. The downside is that it is impossible for the kids to signal to a certain school that it is their favorite. And it is impossible for the schools to figure out who is a serious applicant and who is just checking extra boxes.