Pretty much this. I think a lot of people confuse "screening" out applicants with great stats with simply raising the threshold for expected demonstrated interest. From the perspective of a school, they have no reason to assume top applicants are serious about attending their school. Thus, unless applicants convincingly demonstrate otherwise, it's probably more expedient to simply reject them. However, that doesn't mean that it is impossible for an applicant to demonstrate that they are serious, which is what people are suggesting when they whine about their rejections being because they were "too qualified" for the school. Every school loves to have higher MCAT/GPA averages, but you have to convince them that you're worth their time first.
They wouldn't unless they gave them reasonable cause to believe that the applicant may be serious (convincing essays, personal connections, geographic favorability, etc). To those claiming that Deans have personally confessed to just skimming the top of their applicant pool--I have to call BS on this unless you show some sort of evidence. This is an extraordinary claim and can't just be accepted on hearsay. Keep in mind that if even a single applicant is accepted with high stats, that means the school absolutely does not skim applicants at that level...thus that would mean that every year after year after year not a single applicant with high stats is accepted. Some people are suggesting that they don't even offer any of these applicants interviews? This is hardly likely, and it's instead more likely that these schools raise the threshold for demonstrated interest that they expect from applicants with high stats.
