Or you could be my nephew who probably got that lukewarm recommendation from his prep school counselor. Ended up at Rice (not on the radar of the school, the kid’s dentist suggested it!), did spectacularly well there. Goldwater fellowship, double majored in bioengineering and biology, he just got a PhD from MIT. He’s not complaining - he loved Rice - but I’m pretty sure he’d have been fine at MIT too. He’s a brilliant kid. Mom still resents the way they were treated.
I remember the way my boarding school kept trying to get me to go to Vassar or Smith. There was no way I was going to an all female college after four years of a girl’s high school and I wanted to be in a city. I got into Harvard/Radcliffe in the end, but that was a long time ago when it was easier - I think six of us ended up there in a class of 80.