That's true that the chance is slim. However, it's equally slim to get into an elite school as well. Just like you take AP classes, run for ASB, volunteer, work, etc. Most of these things alone won't get you into an elite school. However, you do it anyway, hoping a collection of all of it will. Also, elite D1 college coach I've talked to said grades first. If your grade is not good enough to qualify you as a regular admit, they won't even care about your soccer ability.
I believe that most travel basketball and baseball clubs typically are only one team deep at each age group. Whereas for the larger soccer clubs it's not uncommon for there to be 4-7 teams at a single age group. I think it's fair to compare the majority of club soccer to other sports teams/leagues like Pop Warner in terms of relative level of play. Maybe not ECNL and MLS Next, but pretty much everything else, yes.
Not sure how true that is:
Maybe it's different on the girl side. I can only say this for the boys side, since this is what I heard directly from a couple of coaches at Ivy schools. They straight up said that, in your email, put your GPA in the subject line, in front of year and position you play. That's how important GPA is.
Boys side is known to be worse, especially for $$$ generating sports like football and basketball. Team "tutors" do the work for players so they stay eligible. Maybe Ivy schools are different but you would think stanford and Duke would be just as academically selective.
