I think you underestimate how much a proper background can help you in terms of admissions to elite schools. I know someone that scored a 1600 out of a 1600 on their SAT, but came from more of a modest background than Bill. They were denied from Harvard. Harvard receives plently of high SAT scoring, high achieving applicants. Smart people from poor backgrounds have a lot more to overcome in life to get to the same point as others with more resources. A head start with a secure background can make a large difference later in life. I'm sure if my friend didn't go to one of the worst high schools in the state, and went to a better STEM school, they could have been admitted to Harvard. Who knows how that would have changed their life for the better. Now we will never know.
In this day and age, I would argue that access to education is actually nearly ubiquitous when it comes to STEM. Lack of encouragement/emphasis on education from parents and the rest of the social circle is a much bigger problem. That, and smart poor kids just don't apply, because they wrongly think they don't stand a chance.
Arguably, a smart kid growing up in a poor family, but with parents that put great emphasis on education, has an advantage over a rich kid - the rich kid is unlikely to have the same kind of drive to succeed.
A "proper background", outside of legacy, is generally a negative thing when applying to elite institutions as applicants from 'improper backgrounds' will receive bonus points on their applicant score. All other things being equal the guy who went to Bodunk High is generally going to have a better admittance score better than the guy who went Carnegie College Preparatory Academy.
The one issue of course is that all other things are often not equal. The guy who went to our imaginary prep school is probably going to have had greater resources to enable his endeavors and often a better family life at home. And that's why the guy from Bodunk High is given a boost on his score.
And in my opinion, having been somebody who came from a poor background and was able to go to a top tier university, I don't think it really makes much of a difference. The crazy high overachievers who go on to become the Bill Gates didn't achieve that because of Harvard, and obviously in Bill Gates case as he dropped out - he would have done phenomenal whether he went to Harvard or Party U. It's a similar story with people like Michael Dell. He came from an upper middle class family but nonetheless worked jobs ranging from dish washer to telemarketer. In college at UT he started what would become Dell literally from his dorm room. He would drop out his freshman year once it became clear the business was viable.
Elite universities just have this sort of win-win feedback scenario going for them. They attract all these sorts of individuals and then get to implicitly take some credit for their achievements, which then affirms the university's elite status. Meh. I would fully agree though that if your ambition is just to go send out resumes and gradually work your way up for other people, then an elite university degree would help you eventually end up with a somewhat nicer white picket fence than somebody who went to a less premier institution. But these are not the sort of people we're talking about.
Exactly! Bill Gates success is tied to much more mundane things like sales strategies and close business relations to major businesses like IBM (thanks to his mother) to the point that Bill Gates decided that he'd be better off just getting contracts at any cost even if it means over-promising and in the end buying software from Tim Paterson and merely ported it over to whatever IBM was selling at the time.
"poor" people go to university. Rich people take advantage of their connections.
If Bill Gates weren't from such a well-connected family, it is also likely Microsoft wouldn't have been selected to develop the OS for the IBM PC.
He was never considered an especially talented developer. He bought the OS that was used for the IBM PC.
For example, if Lebron James wasn't born with such great genetics, it's likely he wouldn't have been a "once in a generation" NBA superstar, and instead just a really good rec league player.
Or, if Marilyn Monroe wasn't so attractive, it's likely she wouldn't have been a cultural icon, and instead just an average D-list actress.
Imagine how many potential Bill Gates are majoring in CS from average to good state universities that have the potential to do so much more in academia and industry, but come from poor families/no one to help them. You’ll probably never hear of them/know they exist.