Notably, you didn't attend MIT or Brown for undergrad, just terminal master's degrees. The selection process for undergraduates at those schools is about 100x more rigorous than that for MS programs.
Why notably? I don't think we're communicating well, if that's what you latched onto. Are you suggesting I didn't also interact with undergrads when I said I liked the students there, or is this borderline ad hominem?
Perhaps the meta-relevance is that some people fixate on the prestige and exclusivity of these things, and fight aggressively to acquire that for themselves, and to preserve that status. And some other people help perpetuate superiority myths, including in hiring.
