University and selection committees work on a two-tiered process. The first round eliminates the unqualified candidates/applicants. This is the part of the process that is focused on the individual. This part of the process inevitably finds more qualified applicants than spots for admission/selection. The SECOND part of the process (the part that most people choose to ignore) is that from the pool of ALL QUALIFIED APPLICANTS the institution selects from that pool those whose admission or selection would benefit the institution. It's not to the institution's benefit to be homogeneous and different candidates bring different qualities/benefits (athletic ability, music ability, parents likely to give large contributions, geographic representation, interest in a particular field of study, etc.). The first part is very objective. The second part is subjective. The University of Michigan basically argued that the second part of the process has value to them.