In Europe they make tests and those who score best are admitted. The dean has a small list (10 out of 1000?) that they can admit freely.

But I guess if scoring was objective, then mostly Asian and Jewish people would be admitted?

So the system is rigged?

Follow the money.

The boutique US universities are private institutions sitting on unbelievably large endowments. They're strange hybrids between school, hedge fund and country club.

Admission is a committee driven process to decide who can join the very exclusive club.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_univers...

I wonder if they select against people who are too likely to spend their lives tinkering in their garages to have any chance of making a several million dollar alumni donation.

Some European test systems were rigged as well. https://arxiv.org/abs/1110.1556