Hi Wren,
I spent a lot of time on College Confidential when the Harvard lawsuit results came out. Here is my summary about the two categories I remember best.
* Athletics: 1 is a recruited athlete. 83% are admitted. A 2 would be someone at the state champion level. A 3 would be a good high school varsity athlete. Non-athletes are 4.
* Academics: 1 is someone truly exceptional academically. There are fewer than 100 applicants that get this, and about 50% are admitted. Examples are IMO medalists, major science award winners, significant published research. Even though these are ECs, they get put into the academic category.
Now, the vast majority of admitted students did not have even a single 1, but multiple 2s. There are also gradations such as 1- or 2+. Note that these are aggregate stats, including hooked students (obviously recruited athlete is a hook). Unhooked students have more rigorous admissions criteria.
FYI, my son is a current Harvard student so if you have specific questions about that, feel free to PM me.
