I got in nowhere, took sat once at start of 11th grade, no prep, 1360. GPA for me started in eighth grade. My GPA junior/senior year was above 4.0, but the final score was 2.52. Guess who gave precisely zero shits about school eighth and ninth grade? I didn't miss much, a year of community college convinced me that I hated school in all forms. So I joined the military. First thing they do? Effing test. And class, and test, etc. I was responsible for tutoring the 31 score asvab guys through boot camp. They made it.
I hear in my town that dear old UVA accepted about 30% of it's applicants. Not a real exclusive school. When I was trying to get into the service academies they would have about 12k applicants for 1500 slots. I made the first cut with wonderful letters from my senator and rep, but the second cut? See GPA.