<p>Historically, many of these institutions drew from an applicant pool that already came from a wealthy, well-connected sector of society. A more valid analysis of wealth/power/etc. following graduation requires removing those individuals from the sample.</p>
<p>I don’t have the link to the study, but one well validated project a number of years ago compared students who chose to study at other institutions even though they had been accepted at an Ivy, with socio-economic peers who chose to study at an Ivy. In this follow-up a number of years after graduation, there was no significant difference in the lives of those two sets of students. In other words, if you are a potential top whatever, you can get there from your home-state U. Your character counts for more than the name on your university’s letter-head.</p>