> someone whose home study time is disrupted frequently by gunfire outside is probably not getting the same chance as someone who lives on a 20 acre estate with private tutors for every subject

Is there any world in which the first student, struggling in that context, treads water at a UC?

I used to volunteer to tutor high-school aged students in New York. I gave up and moved to grade schoolers. A refugee who will take the SAT in six months and wants to go to college, but is struggling with basic reading comprehension and symbolic math is just not going to do well in college in a year.

Note: the student who excels in that first setting should absolutely be admitted. But they’re, by definition, already excelling.