You seem to be confusing graduate school with undergraduate school. None of the grad students I work with at MIT have rich families. Many come from very non-eli

You seem to be confusing graduate school with undergraduate school. None of the grad students I work with at MIT have rich families. Many come from very non-elite colleges. They're smart and hard-working, much like grad students elsewhere. We get paid below national average salaries to work 60 hour weeks on technically challenging projects. That said, MIT has an unfair reputation of containing geniuses. Elite schools do have a greater impact, but only the true theories/discoveries stand the test of time.