Agree, you don’t need a top name to find the empowering program for you, with profs who are doing important work and open to undergrads getting involved.
What have you done for your local community? What shows you want so very much to help people and so you actually roll up your sleeves and get out there, work in health or with the needy? That’s not tutoring one kid or shadowing. Or random service through a club. Or doing independent research projects.
Show, not just tell.
And for top colleges, it matters what courses got the non-A grades, not…just…GPA.