> Owing to its population and economy, the U.S. has a large enough talent pool that the top percentile students at large, well-funded state schools (of which UMN is an example) are plenty smart. If you were to meet the really smart top-5-percentile kids from such state colleges (I have), you'd have no doubt that many of them could have attended MIT or CMU.

> To be sure, good colleges can give you a headstart in life -- but it's what you do with that advantage that counts.

I just graduated undergrad from a state school (Rank #49 in CS) but I'm still pretty skeptical of this fact.