IRemarkably, as many schools move back to testing, at least one school has moved away from grading students- at least initially in a pilot program that will launch next year.
The simple truth is that college admissions are unfair - and the system works to the advantage of the colleges, not to the students. This year alone, I have seen early applications spike in my practice with students applying to 15 or more schools often in a very short period of time - by November 1 of senior year. Even though they have already been accepted to a few, they keep on applying.