<p>there is no evidence to the "cream of the crop" theory. The fact is that cream is split between hpys and even state schools etc. to think harvard takes teh top 2000 kids in the world is just wrong</p>
<p>I agree with you, collegecanwait; the best students are split between a few colleges. However, the meaning of my earlier post was a more general picture of "the best." Filling "thrice over with THE best" doesn't mean they are going to have the TOP 2000 STUDENTS EVARRR (tm) !!!! You're looking at the top 6000-8000 most amazing kids applying to the same schools (HYPS) and these schools end up selecting from the "cream of the crop" as in all 6k-8k or however many wonderful kids.</p>
<p>And I was accepted by Harvard ea; I don't think I'm "THE CREAM OF THE CROP TOP 2000 KIDS IN THE ENTIRE WORLD BOW DOWN TO US" while I know kids at STanford and Yale that I do think deserve this title. In summation, I have attempted to point out that you and I were defining things differently and thus are discussing two almost entirely different things. Both of us can be right in what we said; I agree with you completely, and whether you agree with me is unknown. Now it's holiday time, and I want a cookie after all this work!</p>