[titzer]

So, you think that top schools having top faculty and educators has zero effect on educational outcomes? And somehow they only produce good outcomes because they select good students and that "most of the education is simply due to the types of peers you have".

It's all "selection bias"? Now that's a hot take.

You seem to be laboring under the assumption that elite schools exist as some kind of public service to improve the prospects of average, or randomly selected students. They aren't. They are elite schools, in both good and bad senses. You might as well start comparing the luggage compartments of top fuel dragsters with sedans.

[gautamdivgi]

Do top faculty and top educator correlate well? They may when you do research but probably not at an undergraduate level. Top faculty is generally a top researcher with bundles of grant money. They could be horrible educators. The opposite is true as well.

[titzer]

As it turns out, schools hire faculty for more than just research. Not only are faculty usually required to teach, and evaluated on that, but there are faculty roles that are geared to teaching, as well as lecturer roles.