Just seems extremely unfair that the social outcome for getting into an IIT is so different for people of almost identical intellectual capability. Unless you

Just seems extremely unfair that the social outcome for getting into an IIT is so different for people of almost identical intellectual capability. Unless you could quote a proper scientific study, that seems like a highly unsupportable assertion. Just anecdotally, I know multiple people who chose not to go to IIT despite being inside the cut-off for one reason or another (e.g., not having a high enough rank to get into their preferred line of study) who've gone on to have extremely good careers nonetheless. Although admittedly, I'm struggling to think of any IIT graduates who did not end up with a solid to brilliant career, regardless of their actual academic performance while at IIT. Some to my great surprise! So what I'm saying is... there's not enough data to make a statement like you did.