I had a full tuition ROTC scholarship in the early 80’s and I chose Santa Clara over Stanford. Since I was in the Honors Program, the coursework was certainly challenging. In my freshman English class of 20 there was only one A.
My cousin, who was attending Stanford at the time, said over half the class always received A’s (significant grade inflation) and she thought my classes were “deeper” and more life enhancing.
True story.
The difference is they are “recruited” they don’t have to apply and go into a pool with a 6 % chance of admittance.
My oldest was recruited to a couple of ivies for football (he had good grades and scores). He turned it down for the full ride. Broke our hearts, because we were willing to pay, but there was some “coolness” in his crowd to pay for it himself.
I must say it was awesome not having to pay those bills 