You’re right. You’re right. And as I said previously, I am sorry if I hurt your feelings/ego as well. I hope you succeed and earn your diploma and buy a fancy frame and hang it up proudly and be everything you want to be in this world. Be confident and show it off, loud and proud–you go, girl! 
Yeah, I know there are some uber-fancy private boarding schools, like the one George W. Bush went to (Andover?). I can barely name any of them, though, and outside certain circles I bet 95% of Americans couldn’t either. They just don’t figure that big on the national consciousness.
As for fancy colleges, sure, some students are undeserving legacies, and some are just dummies who squeaked through one way or another. But that’s by and large the exception, and in general it’s fair to say that if you graduate from Stanford or Harvard or UVA or U Chicago or any of those places, you’re probably smarter than the average bear.
This is certainly not to say that anyone who doesn’t go to a fancy school (or any school at all) isn’t smart. This is also not self-serving: my alma mater is considered pretty good, but has zero name recognition.
Actually both of the Bush men went to Phillps Academy, Andover (there’s also a Phillps Academy in Exeter, NH which is rumored to be of Catcher in the Rye…) And yes, there is probably a small percentage of those who are legacies at elite institutions, though I do believe it’s quite common at larger universities as well (fraternities are known for this, no?). I think that there are so many factors to consider. What if you get wicked SAD–your choices then become limited to Stanford? What if you have phenomenal recognition so you do well on the SATs but really have nothing to offer beyond grades–does this make them impressive because they get into an Ivy? Smart is often relative, and some of the smartest people I know never attended any college. I could keep discussing this but I don’t feel like hearing that I am jealous or threatened or insecure. 
Well, to be fair just grades and SATs don’t get you into Ivies. You also have to gun those extracurriculars like a mofo, at the very least.
Just some anecdata, my former husband went to a Catholic all-boys high school, and lots of guys who went there seem completely proud of it. They continue to define themselves as “X-men” and were eager to see their sons attend.
Some of us didn’t go right from high school to college - some of us worked a while to figure out what we wanted to be when we grew up. I was 22 when I started working on my degree. My husband was 29 when he went to college under a program for disabled veterans. So sometimes there is a little more to your undergrad degree than what clubs you belonged to in high school.
If someone is 25 or under and name-drops their college yes, it might impress me because getting into MIT or Harvard generally is a positive statement.
If they’re 40 and name-dropping their school I go WTF? The last noteworthy thing you did was getting accepted to a college? Wow, I’m not impressed. Tell me what you did with that education, if anything.
My brothers and I all went to an all boys Catholic high school as well. School pride is pretty high - higher I think than if I went to a public school. But I’m 500 miles away now, and I have little interest. I’ll see where the football team is ranked each fall, and try to catch them on cable if they make the state championship - but I haven’t gone to a single reunion (I graduated in '94). My oldest brother still lives in the area, and has definitely raised his boys to want to go there. There’s another new Catholic high school (with girls!) that is right down the road from them though - I don’t think there’d be any hard feelings if they chose to go there.
You were married to an X-Man, I bet you have some stories. Were the movies true to life? Is Professor X really as nice as he seems?
About alma mater dropping, I reas a funny tweet that asked how does a vegan who went to Harvard and doesn’t own a TV decide what to tell people first?
I once went to a conference and during a Q and A session this middle aged lady introduced her question by announcing that she had attended Stanford. It was very funny.
Quite the opposite. In my area there’s certain state university that seems to be adept at creating graduates that think their computer science program is the best in the country (it’s not) and the graduates actually have the gall to be snobby about it. A self-delusional fraternity. You are automatically dirt in my eyes if you brag about this school’s CS program.
Unless you are my ex-wife. She is pushing 45 and still talks about high school as if she is on spring break.
Does she listen to Springsteens Glory Days a lot?
Heh.
Madonna… lots and lots and lots of Madonna
Whoo-hoo!Wisconsin represent!
There. Impressed? Anyone? Anyone? <crickets> I thought not.