Cheers!
This is the only line I can quibble with. I agree there is a significant percentage who don't realize it's the brand/connections that open doors, however, a good portion know about this. I have a friend who wanted to get into publishing. She "needed an ivy" on her resume in order to be considered. Interestingly, she found out that she only needed to have attended there, not graduate so she transferred to an less expensive school with what she felt was a better program after two years. I know some one else who said that the money spent on the ivy league MBA wasn't for the classroom instruction, but for the connections with classmates and alumni. These people probably aren't going to admit this publicly, but there are people who know that the classroom instruction is maybe 50% of the equation. P.S. I would love to talk to you privately about your research/work.
Thanks for the link to the essay by Mr. Deresiewicz. I confess to not being able to sustain my interest to the end. I'm a bit amazed that the fellow is able to scratch out a living as a writer.
sitetest
Anti-elitism is a leftist, populist impulse fueled by envy and jealousy.