<p>It's not a matter of maturity. Sure, we see people such as the President of MIT who attended a second-tier university, but they are minorities. I agree that some people can perform well at any school, but it's not just about performance. Many people want to get a job after college, or go on to a professional school, or get into grad school. There are undeniable advantages to attending some top schools such as HYP as opposed to a second-tier school. I'll give you one very simple example: pre-meds. It's one of the most populous "majors" on most college campuses. Competition to get into medical school is tougher than ever. About 50% of the applicants nationally are rejected from every single medical school they apply to, and that's just the people who apply (let's face it, if you have straight Cs in your pre-med prereqs, you're not going to bother applying). Take a school like UC Berkeley. I believe the acceptance rate is around 65%. That means around 35% who apply are rejected from every single medical school they apply to. Now take a school like Harvard, where over 90% of all applicants get into a medical school, and with an average GPA of even lower than that of Berkeley applicants, despite the fact that it's more grade-inflated. For the pre-meds out there that is a huge boon to attend Harvard over Berkeley, or another similar institution. The same concept applies to pre-laws, where GPA holds upmost importance in admissions. Some people want to go to a college just for the prestige. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. Prestige gets you places. These schools are so prestigious, in large part, because they are indeed very good schools to attend.</p>