@Happytimes2001 , also having a passing familiarity with NE boarding schools, mid-Atlantic boarding schools and, of course, Thacher in California, I am not shocked by your perspective; many hold it. Confirmation bias runs deep on this site for loads of parents and kids.
It’s totally fine to favor a NE decision for a million great reasons, just don’t be fooled into thinking it is a better/worse calculus when making comparisons to schools in other geos.
Like you, my worldview was purely SPS, SMS, PE, Groton, Choate etc - all neighbor powerhouses full of family alumni. Yet Thacher ended up being the unanimous choice. Sometime “over a beer,” I can tell you why it was the best tuition money that we ever spent (and that includes private day schools and Ivy universities - we have three children). You don’t know what you don’t know! You should read @SevenDad’s epic overview of how he and his daughter decided on a Delaware school. I like it because it shows a family determined to avoid “but we’ve always done it this way” thinking.