[ghaff]

>Why should your extracurricular hobbies or "you as a person" matter?

They certainly do at elite US schools. The logic is that there's no shortage of students who could handle the academic work but Harvard or even MIT aren't looking just to admit the students who did best on an exam.

Added: The way it at least used to be done (and I assume this still applies at least somewhat) was that quantitative academic scores are used to set something of a floor but, beyond that, they were just one of the factors that went into admissions decisions. (With weights and other considerations doubtless varying by school.)

[walshemj]

UNi's want to make sure you have the soft skills to complete the course as well as pure academics