>In view of recent discussions, I have an observation about Harvard as well. Once again Harvard has been assessed in the top 5 universities in the world. It is more and more difficult to enter Harvard unless you're supported by increasingly elitist scholarship or from elite stock so you can slip in the back door.

I can't speak to Harvard specifically. But at least one top-flight elite school in the US is making a serious effort to include students who are not wealthy or otherwise elite. I found this article in Amherst's latest alumni mag really interesting: https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/magazine/issues/2011summer/nationalinterest

Tamar