> The goal of this process isn't to find the "best" people to admit
That is exactly the goal of this process. Otherwise why does someone with a 4.0 GPA have any better chance than someone with a 3.2 GPA? If all you cared about was "qualified" then there would be some minimum threshold and candidates above that threshold would be chosen at random.
> there's always going to be an imperfect system doing the picking.
"Perfection is impossible" doesn't mean that every imperfect alternative is equally bad.
Someone else getting picked instead of you sucks regardless of the reason and there's always going to be an imperfect system doing the picking.