<i>Many endorsers have already committed to implementing changes consistent with the report recommendations – from revised essay questions and marketing materials, to the development of entirely new recruitment, scholarship and high school programs focused on community engagement and caring for others....&quot;We don’t want students who do things just because they think they have to in order to get into college&quot;</i><p>This is sort of an impossible goal. If you put something on the college application, and judge students by it, then you are certain to be selecting students who are doing that activity just in order to get into college.<p>At this point, I think it may simply be better to use a lottery to fill slots at the most selective colleges. Set a bar at 1400SAT, top 10% of class, and one significant extracurricular. Then award students additional points for slightly higher SAT or better class rank or more exceptional extracurricular. Do a lottery, with your chances weighted by total points.[1]<p>Top-ten schools are recruiting from a pool of over a billion people, that means that among the top 1% of that pool there are 100,000 students each year. Distinguishing among that top 1% is nigh impossible, and if you try to do it based on any measuring stick, you will just set off a red queen race. Asking for people to show that they contribute to the community on the application is not a recipe for producing people who can successfully contribute to their communities. It is a recipe for producing people who can create the appearance of contributing to the community. The two are very different.<p>[1] I&#x27;m sure this policy would have to be slightly more complicated when taking into account the needs of recruiting a competitive football team, or in rewarding the biggest donors. But overall, I think this kind of plan would work for filling most of the slots in college class.