Admissions Competitiveness

How much more “competitive” has admissions really become? The acceptance rates have gotten much much lower over the years but that is largely because of how easy it is to shotgun colleges now, right? doesnt that also mean a lot more people get accepted off the waitlists because for every person who gets accepted into 10 colleges they can only pick 1?

So like has admissions actually gotten a lot harder or is it not that bad