Do other students benefit from the overrepresentation of the wealthiest 0.1% at T20s and top SLACs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids can move in any circle. They have been around it all. From poverty kids/foster care, middle class to the kind that have a private jet. Going to public school and then private HS and being around some of their parents friends who made ridiculous $ the past 30 years. The thing is- they don’t care whether someone has $ or not—it’s always been the person. They were raised to value the person. There are a—holes and douches and good, genuine people at every price point. Some of the richest people I know are also some of the most unassuming. You wouldn’t immediately guess it.

My firstborn is at an Ivy- and he had a pretty diverse group of friends. It’s not $ based.

Students from high socioeconomic households are significantly overrepresented at ivy League private colleges. It's a privileged environment even if it does have some level of students from lower or mid economic HHs. There are loads of friendships born of privilege even if your child is not part of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was looking over the NYTIMES tool (it is a bit outdated now from 2017) which breaks down different college's enrollments by income level. It was shocking how much the students from the top 0.1% of families in terms of income were overrepresented. They often comprised 2-3% of the school's enrollment - meaning 20-30 times more likely to attend!

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Does this provide a benefit for other students not from this economic level in terms of friendships, future business connections, or even relationships? I know this POV sounds silly, but I wonder if the possibility of rubbing shoulders with students from this kind of economic background is part of the allure of attending these colleges and universities.

Depends on the school. DC is at WashU, ranked 1st in that old NY Times ranking. Hard to tell who is 0.1% top or 0.1% bottom. They dress and act similarly, very few flaunt their wealth. The culture at WashU is mostly collaborative and midwest friendly. Other schools may have different culture, so again depends on the school.