The answer to every story about elite college admissions is to make sure every American has access to a low price high quality public education within a reasonable drive of their hometown.
The wild thing is we mostly achieved this. Then destroyed it.
Yeah - well, it's fine if people have access to good-quality education, the key is whether or not they have access to high-prestige education and the connections and status that go with it.
Yup but also, many of those kids already have connections from prep school. The whole thing is a "prestige" game but the game is to show their kids aren't just rich but also smart. It's supposed to be a thing you can't "just" buy and in some ways you can't