<p>I understand how finances might limit one’s EC’s, but I don’t get why it should impact grades/SATs once you are at least middle class, particularly if you are comparing them to wealthier people at the same school. I mean, do you need to be rich to solve basic algebra problems for the SAT? And the verbal is best prepared for with a library card, or if you want to do ‘prep’, if you just check out a Princeton Review book at the library you can get everything you need. </p>
<p>And one argument that I’ve heard before, that some people might not know that there is a point to studying, is just absurd. If you don’t know that, then maybe HYP is not the most logical next step. </p>
<p>I went to a school with Westinghouse winners and people on the US math, physics, and computer olympics team. They were all middle class. If you aren’t at the top talent-wise, it’s basically impossible to get there with money even if you were just a notch below them. However, some of them couldn’t pay for the elite schools they got in; that is a bigger issue. </p>
<p>The problem is that the SATI/IIs are extraordinarily easy. If you give people 100 point boosts or something then being middle class, what happens to the people who have more money but who get perfect scores? You can’t win in that scenario.</p>