^ Indeed, @awang, admit rates can be heavily gamed. Note that USC graduates almost 5000 a year while they take in only 3000 freshmen in the fall. Taking a ton of transfers (rather than freshmen) certainly would make their fall freshmen admit rate go down.
Granted, UMich takes in a ton of transfers as well, but that just shows you that trying to judge by admit rate is silly.
For what it’s worth, by (top) alumni achievements, UMich is a Near-Ivy while USC (outside of a few specialized schools) isn’t quite at that level: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1893105-ivy-equivalents-ranking-based-on-alumni-outcomes-take-2-1-p1.html