<p>"All I am saying is that 50% of any class has to finish in the bottom half and it is most likely to be over populated by those in the bottom half of the admissions pool. And yes there will always be exceptions. But this is the way things work in any competetive environment. "</p>
<p>It's a big unknown. Karabel (in The Chosen) writes about an admissions director at Harvard who seeks out "a happy bottom quarter". These are students who, in his opinion, would not lose self-esteem over being in the bottom 25% of the Harvard class, and would find social meaning outside of the classroom. But it doesn't mean their SAT scores were lower; rather their GPAs and class rank were. Needless to say, the "happy bottom quarter" was way overrepresented in legacies, and in fancy prep school grads (where SAT test prep was first class); but not by athletes.</p>
<p>So it really depends by what you mean by the "bottom half of the admissions pool". I was part of the bottom 2% (meaning I got in off the waiting list), but my stats were well better than half the class.</p>