When I applied, the University of Chicago has something like a 60% acceptance rate, despite being an academic peer of the Ivy League. Only the brainy and quirky applied, so there was massive self-selection in the applicant pool. But that was a bit more than a decade ago, and things have changed.

Right, as I say just above that the rates themselves can be deceptive. I just mean that he doesn't want optimize "likelihood of getting in" for every application because doing so would be at the expense of prestige.