I can't speak from a great deal of experience on admissions, however, having recently gone through the process of seeing my eldest DS apply for scholarships, it was really interesting how differently even state colleges within the same state weighted qualities, scores, activities, and other information / facts. The three state colleges where we lived were VERY much different. One focus on diversity, another on a couple of test scores and not much else, and the third was looking for an extremely well rounded student.