I believe you have the current meta understood, yes.

I know that most people actually get places by having stuff to show off e.g projects, clubs and GOOD GRADES

From what I’ve seen with how my company handles intern applicants, there are at least two different tracks: the first track is indeed people that have GPAs and coursework that is immediately impressive to any recruiter working on commissions. But the second track is where applicants make an impression to our engineers staffing company’s booth when on-site for career fairs.

My take is that engineers have a better gauge for aptitude and generally fitting-in with the company culture, miles above what an external recruiter or a company HR person could ever assess. And fortunately at my company, the process for assessing applicants from either track still ends up before the same interview panel of technical people.

My advice then is that in tandem with a mass approach to resume distribution, also seek out in-person career fair opportunities. These opportunities won’t exist after you’ve left uni, and it’s a good way to both understand a prospective employer and also make a good, in-person impression. And if you do this, do brush up on exactly what those prospective companies work in, and put your most appealing strengths forward first. Even just asking them questions but using correct industry vocab is a differentiator.