<p>
</p>
<p>Vance Packard’s *The Status Seekers<a href=“published%20in%201959”>/i</a> indicates that in the 1950s, elite prep schools and colleges were much more social elite than academic elite.</p>
<p>Of course, academic eliteness has become much more important, but the social elite is in the best position to give their kids a head start to reach academic eliteness. And some unspecified amount of legacy preference remains at many of the elite colleges, indicating that the well connected need not reach the same level of academic eliteness expected of others.</p>