As I tell my kids, education is a tree with many branches…
Wow, I cannot believe that someone would broad brush an entire category of colleges and universities and then apply bogus data based on their singular experience ( or worse take a data set and then apply their own bias). Folks, there are hundreds( thousands?) of colleges and universities. All are different and one can likely go anywhere from many places. It’s personal choice. Going to one institution or another will not determine if you will get a Phd ( which many will not desire as an end goal in any case). And your experience is not the only experience of someone who wants to pursue a similar thing. Someone may have had a completely different experience than you had and may ( ready sit down here) have been well educated just as some of you obviously think you are.