First of all, I don’t know why you think I ignored what you said. I obviously don’t agree with what you said (specifically that elite colleges “maintain” or launch the socioeconomic status of the generic persons who attend such institutions), but I didn’t ignore you.
Secondly, do you not understand why your original comment is not jibing with the research I linked to? Your original comment seems to be expressing the sentiment that getting kicked out an elite school is such a big deal that it can result in someone dropping below the socioeconomic class in which they were raised. You seemed to be saying that while one could be kicked out of an elite school and still find a landing place at a good state school, they will still suffer somehow socioeconomically. But research shows that for the average college student (white, middle class) and the above-average college student (rich), these things should not be assumed. It is only a minority that would be expected to really suffer over the long-term.
It sounds like you think that this last point supports what you said, but I think that is kind of disingenious and shows you didn’t really read the article I linked to…at least not for comprehension. You didn’t say that elite colleges “can” maintain or launch their students’ socioeconomic status. You intimated that that was their primary purpose. I think people perceive them as providing this role, but this perception is not borne out by facts for the vast majority of college students. Can you counter this with your own set of facts?
Playing the “I am a father of two kids so that makes me some of expert” card is nice, dude. But I don’t know what the fuck that has to do with this discussion.
When I was young, I enrolled at Cal State Los Angeles, but a few weeks into classes, circumstances led to me withdrawing and moving back home. That transcript consists of nothing but three "W"s. A couple of years later, I applied to another state university. I left CSULA off of the application, and made no mention of my time there. I sent in all of my transcripts from the other colleges I had attended. And lo and behold, I got a notice from the new college saying they hadn’t received all of my transcripts; they still needed CSULA.
Granted, I hadn’t been expelled. I still got in after sending them the CSULA transcript. My point is, they know. Somehow, they always know…
I am imagining that any school in the same system (in your case, the UC system) would have a central database. I was in the UGA system when I attended Georgia Tech. I suspect it would have been impossible for me to transfer to UGA without them knowing I had been enrolled at GT.