I think DeepBlue is right about the atmosphere at Harvard, in post #112. I actually think something is lost by this, in the sciences. There are a number of large public research universities that would be really glad to have grad students of the caliber of the average Harvard undergrad. On the one hand, I understand that the average Harvard undergrad may prefer a more remunerative career than academic science (or NASA or NIST or JPL). On the other hand, the “import very intelligent foreign students for grad school and keep them” or “import foreign researchers and keep them” strategy is not likely to work in the long run. The circumstances in the period about 6-7 years ahead of WW II through the second half of the twentieth century were unusual. In the interests of the country, money has strategic significance, but science has strategic significance as well, and in some eras it may be the more important.
I think that JHS’s post #113 illustrates what “looks like winning.” A student at Harvard from anywhere below the top 0.05% is likely to be somewhat surprised to see the range of experiences and opportunities that real wealth can buy, and it is pretty hard to resist its allure. (Personally, I would like to purchase original art work of very high quality–unlikely to happen.) There was a line in the Sunday New York Times not long ago, where a child in elementary school responded to a question about a vacation by saying that it was nice, but next time he wanted to “fly private, like everyone else.”
There are trade-offs, of course. My career suits me, my curiosity, and my consumption requirements very well (aside from that one artwork-thing). I don’t think I would actually enjoy careers 1-4 in that post, though they have a certain amount of glamor, and my work also has its down side.
To connect back to the actual thread topic: I suppose the reaction of most students to the idea that Harvard might shift their aspirations strongly in the direction of wealth acquisition would be to say, “Well, that sounds okay,” rather to shift university preferences.