User blog comment:DiegoAnime3000/It's also a gun! -Team CRDL/@comment-24631732-20140613224732/@comment-3146930-20140614184427

That is true; Pyrrha has been mentioned as winning many tournaments in her home country. In fact she is so famous that she is posted on cereal boxes, as if she was the mascot. So the fact that she can take on their entire team isn't that much of a stretch.

Team CRDL on the other hand are a different story. Cardin by himself does seem to be a capable fighter, easily fending off Jaune during their fight. Even if Jaune has little skill, he should have been able to at least land a hit; while Cardin was obviously toying with him. The rest of the team however do seem pretty cowardly, but even Cardin was freaked out by the Ursa Major. Jaune may not have been because he had fought a Death Stalker and because he rarely can see when he is over his head (without Pyrrha, he probably would have died).

Cardin and the rest of his team may have been accepted because they passed whatever combat school they came from, clearing the bare minimum for acceptance into Beacon.