Top colleges… sorry to say… really do matter

WHAT AN IVY LEAGUE EDUCATION REALLY GETS YOU

Economists have a new theory of why graduates of top colleges have so much career success.

APRIL 4, 2026

From the Atlantic

The quick summary: Peers matter enormously.  You might think that this is due to “connections.” Yes, but even more important, putting your children in an environoment where others will elevate them.

Evidence:

The graduates of America’s most elite universities dominate our economy and culture so disproportionately that the statistics can seem like a mathematical glitch. Students at Ivy League schools and the similarly selective University of Chicago, Duke, Stanford, and MIT together comprise less than half a percent of America’s undergraduate population. Yet their alumni represent more than 12 percent of all Fortune 500 CEOs, 32 percent of all New York Times journalists, and 13 percent of the wealthiest 0.1 percent of the population.

My take: choosing your children’s environment is far more important than most realize.  There is a reason why community colleges do not help as many as one would expect.  “Isn’t it great that you can go for two years at X community college and save so much money?”

Yes… but… the peers are usually not the most inspiring group.

I say this not to put pressure on parents or young adults to strive for elite colleges but simply to note that “yes, where you go to college does matter” and, here, for an overlooked reason.