<p>@SammyxB How do you determine their “other qualities?” You don’t get to shadow every student for a month before deciding whether to admit them. And what “other qualities” are good enough to overcome poor grades and SAT scores? </p>
<p>And, as a few people have pointed out now, even if you are the best trampolinist (or whatever, pick your poison) in the world, that doesn’t necessarily mean you are smart enough to cut it at a top school. Even disadvantaged kids, who probably have not had the same opportunities as the typical upper-middle class white/Asian kid who has two parents and lives in the suburbs, needs to prove in some capacity that they are smart enough to excel. How do you know that if you moved the disadvantaged kid with a 2.8 GPA to the suburbs, he wouldn’t just be a “normally advantaged” kid with a 3.2 GPA?</p>