<p>"But a confirmation of the fear that you just weren’t good enough, "</p>
<p>The issue isn’t being good enough. Most applicants to top schools are good enough to be admitted. The issue is whether you would contribute to creating the kind of vibrant class that’s diverse in many ways – the kind of class admissions is interested in creating. Such a class won’t be mainly Asians who are interested in sciences, though such applicants are a disproportionately large number of applicants.</p>