My niece is now a junior at Arky so, oddly enough, we know a decent amount about this subject and all of the above is spot on. Arky (like Bama) has a bunch of out of state students that don't know anyone and no one knows them. Niece in question hits all the marks. Good grades, fun and outgoing personality, good story, and is hot. (Sorry, that still matters and no pics.) However, her mom is a single mom with no money. She wasn't able to get into the top tier houses because of money and connections but she got into one of the solid ones with good academics and a nice house. Since she's hot, she still gets invited to the good frat parties. She's dated two guys at this point and one's mom was a partner at a law firm and the current is from the Park Cities. So, yeah, some of this still matters if you want to be crass.
Her assigned roommate in the dorms during rush was from some small town and shaped like a whiskey barrel and didn't get bid by anyone. She ended up with a bid on the last day by the worst house on campus after everyone turned them down. Kinda sad but I laughed.
We enjoyed the Bama Rush show but it could have been better.