Even back then, that was almost entirely narrative.
Harvard was top tier because they told you it was top tier so you would immediately be impressed when someone name dropped it.
And their "grads" were almost entirely the elite and rich buying their way through, the kind of people who had their success guaranteed regardless of education and college was just a field of nepotism with other future elites to forge political connections.
The actual school portion of it was a formality. It was just the top of society telling you how awesome and amazing they were any time its "reputation" was brought up.
Even back then, that was almost entirely narrative.
Harvard was top tier because they told you it was top tier so you would immediately be impressed when someone name dropped it.
And their "grads" were almost entirely the elite and rich buying their way through, the kind of people who had their success guaranteed regardless of education and college was just a field of nepotism with other future elites to forge political connections.
The actual school portion of it was a formality. It was just the top of society telling you how awesome and amazing they were any time its "reputation" was brought up.
True. As a kid I didn’t understand all that but I just assumed Harvard was top tier