<p>Three decades of research on the outcomes of college on students indicates that the single greatest predictor of students’ goals and aspirations is their college peer group (“How College Affects Students,” (Pascarella & Terenzini). H and Y are at the top of the food chain and get very ambitious entering classes, who then role model ambition for one another. And high-powered faculty are attracted to those schools, go to Washington with new administrations, then return to campus to further fuel the ambition fire. (Obviously, similar processes should be true for ambition in other fields as well as politics.)</p>