The flaw in your argument (and Mr. Thiel’s) is the idea that most folks pay sticker price to go to an Ivy.
As I've written in two other posts, that just isn't the case.
Even households with income of well over $100K regularly receive substantial financial aid from the Ivies.
As for the “Harvard Number,” if YOU will google it, you'll find that most folks say that this is applied to a small percentage of incoming freshmen. At one site, I read that perhaps 100 freshmen out of 1800 are from families that make such donations.
The rest of the kids are getting in through the regular application/admission process.
And as I said, unless your family is fairly well-off, they aren't paying $50+K per year for you to go there.
We're looking at schools right now for my son, and it's a bit of a dilemma. If he gets into the Ivies in which he has some interest (and he stands a reasonable chance), they will likely be the cheapest schools to which to send him.
It will likely be cheaper to send him to Harvard or Princeton than to Hopkins or Notre Dame. In fact, the only school on his list that would likely be cheaper would be the University of Maryland, College Park.
Going to an Ivy DOES open doors; it is an excellent credential to get one’s foot in the door, especially in more high-powered jobs in larger or more elite organizations. Obviously, after that, you have to show you can do the work to progress.
And going to an Ivy is, for most folks, cheaper than going to most other private, or out-of-state public universities.
sitetest
Sorry, but your simply asserting something doesn’t convince me.