What's the deal with college admissions lately?

<p>This year there has been the oddest people being accepted and rejected from schools..
I swear the suicide rate in my school is rising because EVERYONE has gotten rejected from their top schools and only into the state school..
but then there are these random people with no extracurriculars, terrible ACT scores and grades (we're talking 17 ACT's, 2.5 GPA's) and they're getting into Tufts?! (yes, actually, it's true, I saw his admission letter).
What is up? Is the economy to blame?</p>