For clarity with regard to assorted objections, including blossom’s, two comments:
I think that students who describe education at MIT as being like “drinking from a fire hose,” or describe the college as being a “pressure cooker” are in over their heads. I think they are learning less than they might if they were better prepared for the course level. A student who is really swamped will usually find it hard to learn much.
Another poster characterized the problem sets as at MIT as HARD. My guess is that the stronger students find the problem sets just about right. If they find them too easy, they can always shift to a higher level class. Often, faculty adjust the level of their courses depending on the population of the class. Presumably the faculty could also offer offer more challenge in any given class, if needed.
I was not suggesting that MIT admit a larger number of strong students, only to see them glide their way through classes that are too easy for them. That would not make sense.