My child had an ACT 34 and a perfect GPA last year. A top candidate with all the accolades and awards you might want. Got admitted to TCU but only on a Faculty scholarship ($19k iirc). Also got into a (US News) Top 10 university and is super happy there. In the highly selective college admissions world, TCU isn’t that big of a deal. So kids getting into super selective schools with admissions rates of 3 to 5% are getting into TCU as well, but not with nearly as good scholarships as you’d think. We aren’t the only ones this has happened to. TCU is making many odd admissions / scholly choices IMO.
I’ll also add: of all schools toured (a very high number), TCU’s tour was most rotten. The influx of CA kids is not a good look for TCU IMO. A very different group of kids than the solid groups from TX, OK, KS, MO, AR, and NE that I went to school with.