Yes and no. Even the Profs have those schools embedded in their pre belief - it’s a societal norm. They likely wished they had gone to the top schools.
They are not there day after day.
Personally, I’d want metrics is solely the point. But US News has made itself the standard.
That’s why we saw schools get defensive the other year when they changed the methodology. Wake, Tulane, Wash U didn’t go from good to not as good overnight. Unless you put all your faith in US News…then they did.