The main sticking point for students who are considering top universities and top LACs is that even the best LACs have a lack of name recognition.
As mentioned on another excellent thread elsewhere (if anyone can link it to me that’d be great), many high achieving students want validation for their hard work and attend a brand name school, while other high achieving students want the tight-knit community of a LAC with academics that (even though most people don’t know about) parallel brand name schools.
That’s why there are often more kids ending up at Ivies than LACs in many cases.