<p>Yes, there is something desirable, Harvard and Princeton are world-famous names that open many doors. Butt State U. isn’t, even if you learn the exact same things. It’s the same reason people trust brands they know and may steer away from cheaper, generic brands that they are less familiar with. Brand names are a risk management technique, a way of economizing on scarce information.</p>
<p>Anyway, student dissatisfaction rates <em>are</em> high, and that’s because these schools, at the undergrad level, don’t live up to people’s sky-high expectations. You may never even see the Nobel Prize winners the brochures and websites mentioned, as an undergrad. You may realize that your physics class is studying from the same text, and covering the same material, as your friend at Butt State U., but for much more money. Not to mention the enormous pressure on students at these schools.</p>
<p>But unlike Butt State U., students at Ivies have more incentive to tough it out. They make invaluable contacts there that will help them for the rest of their lives. They know the value of their degree when getting that first job/grad school/etc. And their dissatisfaction rates are generally unrelated to the difficulty of the material, so it’s not like they can’t hack it.</p>