My son had very competitive stats in HS, but he didn’t really package his college application well enough because he played a HS sport up to October his senior year. Also he didn’t take enough APs compared to some of his classmates (also due to playing a sport).
He took balanced and very demanding courses in college so that showed he is ready for those top schools.
Of course he included his ACT score and his perfect SAT Math 2 and Physics scores. Who wouldn’t? 
His main reasons are lack of a major he wants to study in his current school, research opportunities and student body engagement.