system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELi5: Why do some colleges send mass emails saying something along the lines of, "You have been selected for a prime selection status! Blah blah blah!" Do they not have enough applicants or are they generally interested?
gpt
The more applicants they get, the better. Part of these college rankings is their acceptance rate, with lower being better. For example, if a college aims to admit 1,000 students every year, they'll have a lower acceptance rate if they chose those 1,000 out of 2,000 applicants instead of 1,500.

Elite schools in particular will reject highly qualified students just so they can say "we're so exclusive that we rejected this guy with a perfect GPA, all-state athlete in 3 sports, all state in band, and captain of the debate team".