As to who are these kids? They are the compliant ones. The kids who have learned to dot every I, cross every T, and spend their H.S. years studying and doing extracurricular activities. I've seen complaints from professors that the students they are getting aren't critically thinking the way students have in the past. And despite the students sky high 4.35 GPA's and 10 AP's, many of these students seems less ready for college than in years past.
Are you basing this on first-hand knowledge, or is this just what you are assuming?
My nephew graduated from Yale a few years ago. He is anything but a conformist, and for his application, he wrote his essays in about an hour.
My children are too young for college, but our high school routinely sends dozens of kids to the Ivys and other selective schools. Through family friends we know lots of them, and they run the gamut from shy introverted kids to the leader that everyone gravitates towards.
Grade inflation is real at some of these places though. My nephew said it was hard to get an "A" at Yale, but it was much *harder* to get a "C".
