I was curious about this article because, when hiring for my kind of job at least, a fancy college doesn’t make any real difference for a candidate. It just matters how competent you are at the skill. And many of the smartest people I have ever known went to “middle tier” public schools.

This article says that public and community colleges tend to lift people up financially more than fancy colleges.

The colleges that most excel in promoting social mobility… aren’t the Ivies — they are excellent, open-access public institutions and community colleges with large numbers of working-class students, like the City University of New York.

And fancy schools don’t make you happier or more fulfilled.

For a broader view, a 2014 survey of tens of thousands of graduates by Gallup found that college selectivity correlated not at all with later satisfaction in work or fulfillment in life