I think your reading a little too much into the quotes. As I understand, he's correcting - or at least explicating - a mistaken assumption commonly promoted by

I think your reading a little too much into the quotes. As I understand, he's correcting - or at least explicating - a mistaken assumption commonly promoted by parents to their children, school counselors to their students, and politicians to their constituents. He's not singling out top-tier academic institutions, but doing the opposite by demonstrating that they're no different from the Olympics. Many will enter, few will win. With that said, I disagree that much of the world is a zero-sum game. You couldn't have innovation if that was the case.