I just want to echo @xraymancs post. I am not well versed in what is astronomy, what is astrophysics, what is cosmology bc it all goes over my head. But, I am the parent of a child who fell in love with physics/astronomy in 8th grade. He went to Astronomy Camp and SSP and has never lost that focus.
His college attendance was dictated by cost and he is a sr at Bama. There he has actively participated in IceCube research during his UG. (I have no idea what category neutrino and muon research falls into. )He used REUs as opportunities to explore other areas in physics to help him narrow his ultimate goal for grad school. Anyway, he is in the process of hearing back from grad programs for theoretical cosmology. So far his acceptances have demonstrated that @xraymancs last sentence, “Students get into highly selective graduate programs from all universities, not just the usual suspects…” appears to be accurate in that Bama has not limited his acceptances.