Respectfully, you ARE missing the point.
I didn’t say that, a Caltech professor with dual PhDs in math and physics who managed one of the biggest NASA projects of all time said that to me.
I am NOT making a blanket statement that Caltech engineers are pedestrian. I’ve been told by someone who should know better than either of us that they CAN be. Engineers trained anywhere can be.
The point I’m attempting to make is that it is FAR more about the person than it is about the school they went to.
As for Wash U, NONE of the OPs schools are on the list. What does that tell us? Precisely nothing.
Everything related to Caltech and SpaceX is a non sequitur that was started tongue in cheek by another poster.