No state flagship can be considered a lesser school/small pond secondary to the elite students found there.
I know a kid who went to the lesser LAC because he said higher percentages of premed students got into medical school. He didn’t get top grades- it backfired on him. Sometimes settling for an easier school doesn’t challenge the student enough to work up to potential and boredom, too many other activities derail academics.
I would much rather find myself no longer the top of the class and be intellectually satisfied.
“Leadership”. There are many different ways to lead- one is scholarship. Learned this from a GT summer camp in our district years ago. Most people think of only a narrow definition. Being in charge of (often junky) activities or business is not the only definition.