I think you'd find plenty of smart and ambitious students at your local community and state colleges. Yes, it might be harder to find them, but they're definite

I think you'd find plenty of smart and ambitious students at your local community and state colleges. Yes, it might be harder to find them, but they're definitely there. But yeah, not saying that there aren't major advantages to going to a school like Cornell or CMU. Just that these schools are outrageously expensive, inequitable and we have some power to relax their grip on our higher education system by asserting that yes, we can be smart, educated and worthy people (and engineers!) even if we go to more "low-brow" schools.