Rejected

You think you're the customer. But really, you're the product. Also, 7 other things worth reading today.

I’m Bill Murphy Jr. Welcome to Understandably. Thanks for reading.

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Imagine that you had a thriving business with far more potential customers than you could possibly serve.

Imagine that it didn’t matter how high you priced your product, or the hoops you created to make potential customers jump through. You couldn’t tamp down demand if you tried.

Imagine that people were so desperate to buy from you that they hired consultants to make themselves look more attractive — and sometimes even broke the law to try to move ahead of others.

Imagine, in other words, that you were an admissions director or other high administrator at an elite U.S. college or university.

Admissions rates have plummeted at elite American colleges in recent years. Not unrelated, aspiring students apply to an average of about eight schools each.

Now, The Wall Street Journal is reporting on a specific way that many colleges are tryin…