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As for the importance of selectivity, I would argue that this factor needs even greater emphasis by aspiring college students.
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I disagree. Selectivity has become a proxy for elitism. Often HS kids choose to go to, not the most prestigous, but rather the most selective school they can. Otherwise, they feel they've worked hard in HS for nothing. I think that is totally the wrong mentality and causes the HSer to ignore fit.
For example, WashU, through various methods, has become pretty selective. What is it actually good in? Some people will say "premed" although we know there's no such thing as a premed program nor does WashU offer a premed major. There are some schools that have artificially inflated their selectivity through marketing methods without a corresponding improvement in the strength of their academic departments. HSers go gah gah over SAT scores and acceptance rates. Academics won't go for it. They look at what the university actually has to offer to the student (not the other way around). That's why schools like WashU will continually lag in the Peer Assessment department until they bring their academic departments up to par.