Not easy to say ardently holistic colleges will just go to machine processing.
Of course enrollment mgt does their thing and meets with admissions, offers input. But they do not review apps. Nor sit in on final committee.
There are many factors involved in admit decisions and to try to make it simple isn’t going to offer clarity. I’d just suggest folks try to be more open-minded. When you ask people why they feel holistic is a sham, they generally answer, “Because I think so.” Or they point to family incomes at certain colleges.
Good research starts at the beginning, not half way through or based on end results. If more qualified applicants from the middle and upper SES apply, that’s a factor that swings results. If more of those income tiers matriculate, same.