<p>The school does matter for opportunities.
As for actual success, it doesn’t matter.
Actual success dependson the caliber of the actual student/person. Most of these high-caliber students, as-we-have-it, attend elite institutions and thus, correlate to elite schools mattering :)</p>
<p>Thus, even if you got into Harvard, but are a dumb-jerk, you might have companies bowing down to your harvard degree, but you’re not getting promoted anytime soon.</p>
<p>Likewise, if you were a student who got screwed over for whatever reason, but is qualified to attend a school like Harvard/Princeton, but is only going to a low-quality State U., chances are, you won’t get immediate respect, but you will build a solid future for yourself.</p>
<p>It’s not really the schools that make the success, it’s the person coming from the school with a combination of luck.
Thus, this is not meant to be some sort of let-down for people at elite schools, nor is it supposed to be good news for all the students at insert-random-name-here University.</p>
<p>long story short:</p>
<p>a) if you are an unqualified individual with little natural talent and/or work ethic, no MATTER where you go, your life will likely be unremarkable.
b) if you are a qualified and talented individual who works hard, your life will likely be successful.
c) if you are a qualified and talended individual who works hard AND has good luck on his/her side, you will likely have a very remarkable and successful life.</p>
<p>end.</p>