Again with the assumption adcoms are underpaid, young, and inexperienced. Imo, you can’t base your position on an assumption. Nor on a declaration it’s that way at “most.”
Now chew on this: it’s not so much about future potential (CC thinks it’s about what happens after college graduation.) It starts with the four year experience at that college, during those 4 years, based on what the kid has taken on, to-date, what that actually shows. Really, read those MIT admissions blogs.