<p>They aren’t paying $14K to get into any 4-year school, but many of them probably aren’t applying to Ivies. </p>
<p>I think it is less class-oriented in the US and now than in the past. However, some of these elite schools won’t consider you if you went to a mediocre high school in a blue-collar area. The tuition is very expensive, and manyof the parents donated in addition. The application asks what is your name, where do you live, where do you go to school, what colleges did your parents go to, what do your parents do? Do you think those aren’t criteria. There are big advantages if you have good connections or are in the social register. Then there are quotas against Asians, Jews, and Italians. Most of this was a lot worse 50 or 100 years ago. </p>
<p>I went somewhere pretty good. In my interview they were mostly asking about my political connections and they like that I acted polite and low key, but they were mostly interested in my test scores way above their average. My father made the equivalent of like $150K today, but the people there were mostly from wealthier backgrounds and snobbish, and acted like I was real low class and low status.</p>