What makes Harvard elite is the demand for the grads, under the belief that they are, on average, somehow stronger employees than graduates from a random “University of State”.

There’s data to suggest that applying to Harvard is a stronger predictor of lifetime outcomes than the incremental prediction provided by graduating is. So, much of the benefit is provided before campus, but that doesn’t mean that 5x as many people would get the benefit if only they’d be convinced to fill out that application by virtue of admissions being driven by rolling dice.

https://time.com/54342/it-doesnt-matter-where-you-go-to-coll...