I read this and kind of laughed. Hemingway never went to university! Twain, Poe, Melville, Dahl, and many other writers never went to university (ie. any university, never mind one of the elite ones) - AND they're not exceptions. The list goes on and on across numerous fields - which many parents tend to forget.
The biggest myth is that Harvard, MIT, and other top ranked universities are the be all and end all. Nothing is further from the truth.
Even a top, world-class pediatric neurosurgeon who barely graduated high school went to a community college - http://nymag.com/nymetro/health/features/12470/index1.html; Harvard would never have accepted him with his kind of track record. He just wasn't groomed for it so to speak regardless of his potential and his eventual career success.
IMHO, Harvard has absolutely no interest in accepting and/or mentoring regardless -- UNLESS there is a well-defined, well-demarcated track record of achievement and success - usually set by exams and test scores and usually through certain schools and/or teachers. Otherwise it's too big a risk for Harvard or MIT. They want 'evidence' of a student's potential -- a paper/digital trail -- that makes a candidate stand out from the pack.
Zucks went to Exeter - a well documented feeder school for Harvard and regarded as the top, or one of the top, prep schools in the country - certainly one of the most exclusive, prestigious schools in the US.
Gates went to Lakeside, another private, exclusive school.
