[gnicholas]

You are correct that GP's statement is wrong. But research from 2011 showed that this may be largely due the fact that students going into Ivy League schools are more likely to be high achieving in the first place. [1]

> What they found was that two students with similar backgrounds, grades and test scores who applied to the same mix of selective and nonselective schools earned about the same later on, even if the first attended a selective school and the second didn’t. The choice of schools applied to was indicative of ambition which, they argue, is a more powerful driver of success than the school they attend. “The return to college selectivity [is] indistinguishable from zero,” they wrote in 2011.

However, researchers noted that for certain students, going to a more elite school did generate greater returns.

> focusing only on the benefits to the wealthy may miss the full picture. Ms. Dale and Mr. Krueger found that African-American and Hispanic students, and those whose parents didn’t go to college, actually did enjoy an income boost from a selective college, perhaps, the researchers said, owing to networking opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t have had.

1: https://outline.com/wWr2v3