That's part of what scares me about much of the thread. I'm hearing, "In order to get a job at the elite companies, they base their hiring practices a great deal on if the candidate came from an Ivy League school."
To that I have to ask, "Is that what is going to take to make that person happy? Having a job with an elite company? As for me and mine, we're quite content in jobs we feel passionate about and / or take pride in making a reasonable living and using the time outside of our normal working hours jobs to pursue other passions. In short, work to live, don't live to work. Everyone is different of course, if it takes an elite job to make someone happy, by all means, play the game of the Ivy League schools / Elite companies.
Clearly many people are in need of Howler Monkeys; that epiphany that comes with stripping away all of the things that do NOT matter in order to distill to those which really do.
To some people, that will indicate the need to pursue an Ivy league education and all that goes with it. For those folks, the status IS the most crucial thing.
To others, however, it will signify an awakening to the realization that life is too short to spend it chasing status rather than other inner needs. That is the path that we have found ourselves upon. It probably won't be right for others, but it feels right for us and our daughter.
