This is utterly anecdotal, and a second-hand anecdote at that, but according to a friend who taught a similar writing course for all 3 basic types of university settings (big state school, SPLA school, and Ivy), the students at the Ivy were the worst she encountered. Here's why:
The proficiency of the writing at the Ivy League was about the same as the level of writing of any incoming freshman, she said. No worse, yet not better enough to note either. Still, the majority of her students at the Ivy thought they were God's gift to writing and had nothing to learn. She said they were full of attitude, but were in reality no more proficient and appeared no smarter than her other students. Because of the attitude, they often left the class as *worse* writers than the students she saw at the SPLA and big state schools. After all, if you think you have nothing to learn, you usually don't learn anything.
This observation has less to do with the school than the student, obviously. But I think that if we're talking about who you're surrounding yourself with at college, then a student body with an attitude so privileged as to get in the way of learning would seem to me to be a relevant factor. By college, I think it's less important to be surrounded by brilliant people and more important to be surrounded by people who want to learn.
IMHO, if you want to run for president, then you'd better be at an Ivy! :p If not, then find a place that suits your interests and personality. Ignore the hype.
In my own experience, I saw a similar privileged attitude among many of my fellow students at the expensive SPLA school I attended for my undergrad years. It's just a theory, but I suspect that at most universities, the price tag is inversely proportional to the attitude...
