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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Elite schools exist because humans are status-obsessed apes. Elite schools are Veblen goods. Everything else is correlation or rationalization.[/quote]

They are Veblen goods, indeed, however with a very specific caveat: the least wealthy can go for very low cost or even free, and these schools have the largest cohort of needy customers, recently OVER 50% have financial need and get a cost reduction. That is counterintuitive to the classic Veblen curve, where ability to pay the high price for the elite good applies to every "customer". Instead, elite schools have a large and significant "gate" of being an academic superstar (allowing that the "bar" for superstar is relative if one is FGLI or URM, yet relative to the general population these kids are still almost always above the 95th%ile nationally). That extra "badge" of getting in due to being academically superior plays into the cachet of the elite good, because it applies to almost all of the students there, where paying full price applies to less than half of the students there. Furthermore, part of the draw of applying to these schools has increased as the competition to get in has gone up and up: about 3/4 who are there are 98--99th%ile kids academically, pre-TO, whereas a mere 25 yrs ago only 1/4 were (more students went regional/state, many 99%ile fglis never applied, the population has grown so there are just more now). It is factually harder to get in now, by a lot. And that increases the demand. Add to all of it that there are certain segments of careers that DO have a significant disproportion of elite-school undergraduate alums; whether because they are sought out or it is correlation or both, it adds to the lure. The result is is a very unique and powerful "brand" that these elite schools provide their "customers". 
On a personal note, I realize buy-in-to-the-hype more than many due to the fact of being a first gen in the early 90s before any of us were called that (and before the bar was lowered for us), and my med school roommate was a low income non-minority from a different ivy: we saw what these schools did for us. We saw that our (top3) med school was filled with a majority of elite undergrads (almost half ivy/plus/WAS) many with no doctors in our family, who knew we were there in part because our undergrad institutions and education were known entities, and professors had pushed us and helped advise us on exactly how to get in (all not just fglis). 
Fast forward and our first is at an elite t10 and though he is from our now very wealthy family he is surrounded by kids on need based aid and is in a place with much more SES diversity than his private school. The perks of just being there are light years above and beyond what the high school pal at the t50s state school is getting. Thus I will continue to advocate for elites because I have seen first hand the educational and experiential value they can add.[/quote]

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