I would disagree with your larger point. While I didn’t go to GATech (although I did get in), I did go to MIT and a UC as well as a state school and community college. I’ve also worked for a couple of FAANGS, startups, etc. So I’ve seen a diversity of environments and the people in them. MIT by far had the highest concentration of top talent of anywhere I’ve been. It also had _culturally_ the most ambition which pushed people into excellence, even if they didn’t know they were capable of it. I was in an honors society at my UC, and there were very bright people who went onto top graduate schools, but overall the percentage of them was lower in the school (which was already hard to get into), and the ambition level was much less despite (for this group) raw talent being similar.

Of course there are more people who deserve to be there than there is room. But keeping it small allows it to achieve something special that being bigger wouldn’t allow. Those that do make it in are by and large absolutely top talent.

So it’s not just education and network that matters. I’d argue culture is one of the most important under-appreciated aspects. And MIT culture is top notch.