I don’t think Bama is “loaded” with high stat kids, statistics just don’t work that way. There’s definitely more students at Bama who had 4.0s than at Caltech, but you can’t say Bama’s better with a straight face. A good chunk of their student body just couldn’t get into Auburn.
I respect the grind for chasing “merit money”, but I’m really not concerned about that. Great colleges are great when you can pay for them, which in my case, I can.
If I remember, I’ll let you know where I get in to give you a more accurate picture of how this process works; you may very well be right. Thank you for the good luck wishes.