I agree with all of this and I think it is particularly important to recognize how much has changed just in the last few years.
My friends and acquaintances that are involved in recruiting/hiring pretty much all have the same story these days. The popularization of Zoom interviews and such since COVID has allowed them to cast much wider nets, which is exciting in the sense they feel like they are getting to see more potential recruits of the sort they are really looking for, from a wider variety of origins. And it can be a bit overwhelming sometimes too, but they are using smart technologies to do more processing of resumes and applications, sometimes doing things like online assessments/tests, and so on.
And that does not mean the concept of target colleges and such is entirely dead, not yet, but I think they would all agree it is now way easier for any given individual who is not from one of their traditional target colleges to get in front of them, and they are happy to consider them as long as they score well in that screening process.
To me this is just all the more emphasizing that when choosing a college, you want to think holistically yourself, and make sure you are picking a comfortably affordable college where you think you have a good chance of truly thriving. And people are adaptable so there may be a variety of colleges that fit that standard, but just make sure you are reasonably confident you are choosing one of those.
And then if you do that, and actually thrive, then I am confident you will be able to look for suitable next steps really anywhere. Because next step gatekeepers everywhere are looking for kids who have thrived wherever they were.