Attaching the global brand of MIT or Stanford to your name clearly has value. The education itself? Highly debatable. Being around successful people also has va

Attaching the global brand of MIT or Stanford to your name clearly has value. The education itself? Highly debatable. Being around successful people also has value, but it's also debatable. It's easy to spend time around amazing people without becoming one yourself. As far as evidence, how would one prove that the value of the brand is more important than the education itself? From what I understand, many employers give nearly as much weight to attending either of those schools (and others) as they do actual graduation from them. At best it's difficult to say whether it's the education, the actual understanding and knowledge gained from these institutions, or merely being associated with them that indicates future economic value.