The move from pure standardized testing towards the more "holistic" approach to admissions was deliberately designed and implemented to limit the number of Jews at elite universities. See Jerome Karabel's excellent "The Chosen" for more analysis (
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Chosen.html?id=1Nf3... there was a time when testing and grades were a large portion of admissions, but that let too many hard-working undesirables into Ivies. Open racial quotas would be too controversial even then, so universities started asking for essays and extra-curriculars, judging on the basis of "character" to weed out non-WASPs. It's an interesting study in how meritocracy can cut in unexpected ways.
That said, no one who's been to Japan or South Korea thinks that increasing the focus on standardized testing is that great of an idea. Taken too far, standardized tests also favor the rich, who have the time and resources to train and cram, and the SAT frenzy in American suburbs is already pretty high. Lets try to be more meritocratic while keeping an eye on our teen suicide rates.