I teach at a private HS with students who are trying to get into the world's best colleges and universities. Anecdotally I would say that a tier 1 school in the eyes of my senior students would be the Ivies or the acadamies. Tier 2 would be Stanford, Duke, GT, Vandy, Northwestern, etc. or maybe some of the smaller liberal arts schools (Swarthmore, Oberlin,Colorado College, etc.) Tier 3 would be Uva, Miami, Michigan, Uga, BC, etc. (in their eyes). You may have data that says otherwise and I wouldn't say that you were wrong. All I am saying is, in the eyes of today's students where I teach, Uga is considered selective and difficult to get into for the typical or even decent out of state kid. The kids I have taught who chose Uga were bright and motivated students.