But at institutions with sub 10% admit rates, it is random. It's not a uniform distribution because you can do things to help your odds, but unless your family has a building on campus or you're an olympian or something... admission isn't guaranteed.

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ghaff 5 days ago | parent [-]

People are getting hung up on the word "random." It's not random in the literal sense but it is at least somewhat arbitrary unless you're below some academic cutoff or you're well above it and have some other at least relatively notable achievements.

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MengerSponge 5 days ago | parent [-]

Random doesn't mean unlikely to happen, so I actually think it is random in the literal sense for almost all applicants. Much of life is.

You can do things to tip the balance in your favor, but the most important things can come down to chance.

	▲	ghaff 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		I don't really disagree. I probably prefer other terms in those circumstances. But a lot of the ultimate decisions depend on how particular people felt about an essay or some other aspect of a submittal.