…selective in who they allow in because of the perception of the school, thus pepetuating the perceived academic excellence.

For example, if Southern Utah or Utah Tech all of the sudden had 60k people applying per year because of a perceived elite education being offered, and then admissions could sift through all those for the top 5-10% for the smartest potential students, it's not necessarily the curriculum being taught as opposed to the "talent" being accepted being highly intelligent.

if anything, it feels like these "top-tier" schools no longer teach their student body HOW to think, but WHAT to think, which is a disservice to these students in learning key skills like assessing, interpreting, problem solving, etc.

...and then you also have many instances like this that happen:  Harvards President being investigated for plagerism