These schools value variety (or diversity, if you prefer) in their classes. They could fill up entirely with valedictorians from NYC, or with rowers from New England boarding schools, or with some other well-represented population, if they so chose, because every single member of those populations applies to one or more Ivies. Because they get very few applicants from farming communities, the rural South, Indian reservations, etc., those who do apply might get in with less impressive SAT scores or &quot;extracurricular activities&quot; than well-represented groups.<p>If this is news to you, I suspect you haven&#x27;t thought much about these issues.