I am not advocating selection based on a flawed and ridiculous test like the SAT/ACT, which are essentially aptitude tests.
I think students must be tested on what they have learned and the tests should be tough and meaningful, so that the real good students can be isolated from the not so good ones. Designing such tests is not rocket science. IT can be done and it can lead to a much more meaningful tiering of students. based on their command of the material.
But I am advocating that academics should be the single most important criteria for selection in highly selective undergraduate institutions and should trump everything else. This is education at the college level. Excellence in academics should drive selection. We clearly do this at the graduate level, where EC’s and other factors don’t play such a big role. If you disagree with this, then we are starting off with completely different premises and so will reach very different conclusions.