I have read that some selective colleges are looking not so much for well-rounded applicants but applicants that have good grades and test scores and are exceptional in one area, such as sports, math (qualifying for the Math Olympiad team, for example), science (placing at a national science fair, for example), or other areas.
Certainly different colleges have different criteria, in fact, I was surprised to find that even within my state, all the state colleges placed quite a bit different weight on different criteria. Being my first time into the admissions / merit scholarship application process, I was a bit surprised by that. One would think state colleges would be quite similar in that respect.
No doubt finding the right "fit" for each individual is worth taking some time and doing some research.
