<p>The problem is that the very existance of a relatively small early pool, disproportonately made up of wired-in folk, from which half the seats in the class are filled, discourages the less-connected from applying at all. They fear (rightly) that their odds of admission are very low.</p>
<p>MIT, apparently, acknowledges this consideration in theory, but finds it out-weighed by the institutional advantage provided by the ability to fill half the seats with high-yield early applicants.</p>