[guhidalg]

You need people who got excellent grades in their undergrad program, who have somehow demonstrated that they like the field they’re going into academia for (as in clubs, extracurriculars, and whatnot), and who peers recommend as being likely to do novel research. The last one requires, gasp, talking to the applicant and seeing if they’re full of shit.

[auggierose]

That's already done now. People in Academia have excellent grades, and they like what they do. How would peers know about their ability to do novel research, not having done any themselves?