I heard that some schools (like Stanford) are now trying to achieve a more heterogeneous student population. The straight A, perfect SAT score kids with the bogus formulaic/strategic extra curricular and token volunteer service are just...well...boring and not bringing much to the table that is new. Stanford even has a admissions counselor just for home-schooled students now.
FWIW, I took the SAT in the 1980s and bombed it horribly (my free range British boarding school education did not prepare me at all and I had no practice and no idea what it was all about). I still was conditionally accepted to Berkeley to a large degree I believe this was due to the very obscure major I put down (entomology). Not a very competitive major for getting in but once there after 2 years of core classes I probably could have switched majors pretty easily if I had wanted to.
So there is a free admissions tip!
