How is a liberal arts college like Harvey Mudd superior to top ranked public university?

Firstly, The SAT score requirements for Harvey Mudd are much more than those of universities like UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech, UVA and University of Illinois. Secondly, the acceptance rates of Harvey Mudd are much lower than those of the other universities. Also, Harvey Mudd doesn't have any research facilities like the other universities have, still it is difficult to get into a Liberal Arts College like Harvey Mudd than to get into a top ranked public university. Why is it so? Why do liberal arts colleges have so high requirements even though they have low rankings?