> What you don't get is a "better education". (Edit: Some have pointed out rightly that I should differentiate here between top non-elite instututions and the o

> What you don't get is a "better education". (Edit: Some have pointed out rightly that I should differentiate here between top non-elite instututions and the ones that are diploma mills, so to be clear, what I'm saying doesn't apply to the diploma mills.) You do the same work as the folks at the less elite institutions. It's not just diploma mills (unless every uni outside of the top ~10 is a diploma mill for you). In my opinion you are completely wrong. Quoting myself from a similar thread: > I'm at a mediocre university and watching MIT lectures has made me realize I'm missing out on literally mountains of knowledge. Never mind the qualification process, spending several years with intelligent people (both students and faculty) [also] makes a huge difference.