This is such bullshit. Smart, motivated kids will excel no matter where they are, and there's almost* nothing a Tier 1 state school won't be able to provide th

This is such bullshit. Smart, motivated kids will excel no matter where they are, and there's almost* nothing a Tier 1 state school won't be able to provide that will make a substantive difference in their career. Even Tier 2 public schools will be a-ok, and a lot of those kids will receive large scholarships at tier 2 privates... and they'll end up just fine, also. I think I'd separate your statement into two parts: 1) if you can't get into a decent school, consider trades. 2) god forbid anyone pay list price for a private college education. You & I apparently just disagree on the definition of "decent". * In all honesty, the only thing I can think of OTOH is if you want to go directly from undergrad into investment banking or elite law, where the vast majority of new hires still come from Ivy League (plus a few others: Duke, Georgetown, Stanford, ...) pipelines.