I think you may need a 3.7 in VCCS for guaranteed transfer to UVa now?
And elite privates open backdoors to recruited athletes, URM, progeny of famous/powerful people, and those who donate (lots of) money.
(And speaking of backdoors, Columbia has SCS and Cornell also has near-guaranteed transfer agreements).
Other than the athletes, having to hit a certain GPA seems a bit more meritocratic to me.