is no secret that the Ivy League Schools are not of the same quality as they were 20-30 years ago. They have watered down their admission standards in order to comply to the political special interest groups.
Not sure how true that is. Coming from a town and industry flush with Ivy leaguers, I had posed a similar question about that a few years back to some harvard, Yale and Cornell grads. Their view was that whatever "watering down"(and they skeptical about that assertion) came from trying to me more diversified actually overcame the watering down that used to occur on wealthy or famous legacies (ie Kennedy, Bush etc)or people just buying there way in that would not otherwise qualify) Plus for those west of the Mississippi this diversification policy works well for you since the school try to attract students from all over the country and the western states are under represented. Never underestimate the "brand name" that an Ivy League diploma also represents.
The Ivies, like most schools today, are looking for well-rounded high achieving students. Just getting straight A's does not cut it anymore. Sports, the arts, community involvement etc.... are all huge components. Softball players(especially those with great grades) are a hot commodity. There are still high SAT score required(a little lower than the average student), but softball might be the deciding factor that gets your daughter in instead of someone of equal academics
A friend of of our's daughter was interviewing at Yale a number of years ago. The interviewer asked her "Do you play any sports?" Their daughter said, "tennis" The interviewer said, "Everyone plays tennis, but unless you are nationally ranked forget it, but if you play softball we can talk"
