<p>"^if that were the case, what’s the argument for anyone to attend an elite private research university for undergrad? ALL students distinctly middle class could have gone to a cheaper state school or earned merit scholarships at numerous other private universities for a lower price."</p>
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<li>Remember, I’m arguing the difference between Colgate and Hopkins. Not Buffalo State College and Hopkins.</li>
<li>My argument is specifically being applied to a discussion of medical school competitiveness. If this were a discussion of optimizing opportunities in IB, consulting, STEM graduate programs, music, education, engineering, etc, etc the discussion would be (should be) very different. In general, these boards tend to attach too deeply and broadly post grad opportunity to US News rankings. While I don’t deny a meaningful correlation, the reality is, of course, much more complex and certainly not linear.</li>
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