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Mostly because of:

- The rolodex factor.

- The fact that people that go to Harvard are already smart, and they would be successful anyway.

mostly the second. A study showed that people who get into Harvard/Yale/Princeton and instead go to state school make almost as much money as they would have otherwise.

Do you have a link? I would love to read the study.

Ask and ye shall receive.

http://www.nber.org/papers/w7322.pdf

I'm not sure if this is a generally available link; I am using it from a Stanford IP which may have purchased access. The paper is Dale and Krueger, "Estimating the Payoff to Attending a More Selective College: An Application of Selection on Observables and Unobservables."

I always hear about the importance of networking, especially at the elite schools. Anyone care to voice their experience?

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