I’ll talk more about the opposite. The high acceptance rate does not mean a very high achieving student won’t get a very high quality education at that school. The degree and the end goal have a lot to do with it. The state can dictate to their state institutions that they want them to have a high acceptance rate to give their state students a great chance to go to college even if they may have come from a high school or area with a lower quality education. Those kids often take the remedial classes and work their way into the “mainstream” college. Meanwhile very smart students are taking classes with other very smart students in honors courses, honors sections, or programs that are very competitive.
My son chose a school with a higher acceptance rate because he loved the department in his major, the opportunities, the study abroad programs, the honors college, and the atmosphere of the college. He has excelled, he is in vet school with students from the lower acceptance rate colleges and so far has done as well or better than they have. He feels his background is as good as any of those students.
So the answer is it depends, it is not the main factor. We did not look at it other than to be sure he didn’t have a list consisting only of low acceptance schools. Turns out he just didn’t like those schools for good reasons that had nothing to do with their acceptance rate, his test scores or grades. I feel people look at numbers way too much instead of actually looking at the student, the school, the goal, and the department for fit and cost.