Ultimately I reckon the Elephant in the room is the expectation that our kids will become that much more successful or have a better life for being accepted to and attending a top tier educational institution. This is ultimately why there is so much status associated with going to one of these schools. From an employer’s point of view its also a screening tool so that they only spend time considering applicants of the highest intellectual caliber. Of course there are always exceptions. There are plenty of super talented and exceptionally smart people who never go to a top tier college or sometimes even go to college. However, when you are trying to narrow down applicants, using the college filter is probably the easiest and most widely used barometer for job placement and success. Of course there are exceptions but still this is the reason for the implied status regarding the top schools.