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Ivy students are not the smartest. Intellectually and extracurricular-wise, they are absolutely no different than the very intelligent and well-rounded students who are at less prestigious colleges. What sets them apart is the fact that the majority of Ivy students have had the socioeconmic advantages in life that many non-Ivy students have not had. For example: 30-40% of students at all Ivies graduated from a small group of elite private high schools, ones that most non-Ivy students could not afford to go to. Also, they could afford to hire college strategists, take expensive SAT prep courses, and spend their summers doing something (like going to Mexico to work with artists) to boost their extracurricular resume, while the equally bright and talented student from the public school could not afford to do those things.
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<p>I go to one of those "elite private schools" (I'm on financial aid; my parents fit into the upper-middle class bracket (~70,000 yearly salary))</p>
<p>I can tell you that the kids who go to the Ivy leagues (which is about the top 10%) are most definitely smarter than the average high school student. The coursework is much more challenging than most public high schools; I've known kids who've gotten straight A's without any effort at public schools get B's and C's at our school. And as far as I know, none of my friends who've scored 2300 or higher on the SATs have taken any special prep classes.</p>
<p>Also, from my experience it tends to be the middle class/ upper middle class kids who do the best at my school... I think there's more pressure on them to do well since its a greater investment for their families. The kids who've gotten in because they're rich aren't usually in the top 10%. I think that if you took your "30-40%" and broke it down, you'd realize that the majority of those kids come from the middle class, not the socially elite.</p>