I would welcome data on the admit rates for the group of applicants reviewed by the President, complied and analyzed by a neutral third party of course. And I hear the private university argument, fair enough, they can do what they want. However, I firmly object to Northwestern lying about it. Northwestern’s PR team is sticking to the line “we have strong protections” against advancement influencing admissions when it is demonstrably not the case. I would prefer they honestly embrace the practice - which this thread nearly unanimously assumes is taking place - that you can buy a spot at Northwestern and other elite schools. This would allow society to view graduates from those schools through that lens: the Northwestern grad in front of you may be a talented scholar or they may just be an average student whose wealthy parents bought their admission. After all, are these school elite because of the academic merit or wealth of their students? One seems worthy of respect, the other, not so much…