Harvard. Yale. Stanfurd Stanford. MIT. Whether you are an ambitious high school kid or a parent of one, these words probably form the centerpiece of college admissions discussions. At some point, some pompous parent or cynical career center worker probably told you that these names are necessary if you want to go on to a glorious, lucrative career.

Well, I call bullcrap.

As this Wall Street Journal article points out, there are examples of those who did not go to a top-5 university yet managed to become regular fixtures on richest-people lists (they don’t do it very well; perhaps “only” being able to get into Columbia may undercut that argument). Sure, getting into an awe-inspiring brand of a college may help you out tremendously in your quest for immortal wealth and fame, but it’s not a necessity. To see why, we have to examine what makes colleges so great in the first place.

What makes a Harvard a Harvard? Some point to massive endowments, world-class faculty, the incredible student body, and great facilities. I, however, disagree; USC has massive endowments, Berkeley has world-class faculty AND diverse and engaged students, and Boston University has some of the greatest dorms around. Yet none of them are top-5.

Simply put, Harvard is what it is because its name attracts the attention of important people. Top-5 colleges all have alumni and professional networks that are simply in a class of its own. It’s not that Harvard gives you a better academic education than Berkeley or even UMass, but that being a member of that exclusive student body opens you up to incredible opportunities to meet the right people. As the cliche goes, it’s who you know that gets you places.

However, what many lose sight of is that you don’t have to go to these brand-name colleges to meet important people. It’s going to be difficult as recruiters aren’t going to swarm your local college, but I urge you to examine the lives of those mentioned in the article. They had a few things in common. First, they didn’t let the rejection get to them for long and doubly reapplied themselves in college to stand out. Secondly, through a mix of diligence and luck, they met a mentor- an “important person”- somewhere along the way that guided their talents and grew them to the people they are now. You don’t have to be an insider at age 18 to work your way inside; plenty of people find their calling long after receiving their fat and thin envelopes. The key, whether you’re in MIT or Mt. SAC Community College, is to work hard at something you like and find and take advantage of opportunities to get the inside track on the industry you’re interested in.

So to those parents enviously eyeing your neighbor’s precocious valedictorian or the high school juniors that invariably receive “why-can’t-you-be-like-them” lectures soon after Mom enviously eyes their precocious valedictorian friend, take heart. Your next two years is not a surefire judgment on how the rest of your life will play out. As Warren Buffet would testify, greatness is about attitude and real-life achievement, not the institution handing out your diploma.