Yes I agree going to MIT may feel like more pressure but perhaps (forgive me if I'm wrong, I obviously don't know your personal background) you, and your like minded friends, were from more modest means (i.e; not millionaires) and attending MIT was a real sense of achievement.

However, for some students attending Harvard, Stanford, Oxford or Cambridge can be an expectation and a realistic one at that if they have been given every opportunity to increase their chances of entry thanks to their parents influence and wealth. I understood the Author to be addressing these students. Perhaps they're a minority, but looking at the ranks of politicians and World leaders (from wealthy families I might add) coming from these institutions, it looks like more than just coincidence to me.