This!!!  &quot;Prestigious&quot; colleges aren&#x27;t mostly about the course material, which after all must be learned and re-learned throughout life (at least in my case).  The more important part of the experience is communicating with and learning from your fellow students.  How do they approach problems?  In what kinds of thinking do they generally succeed where you fail?  How do &#x2F;you&#x2F; deal with failures and stumbles when they occur?  Truly, I think that the idea of online courses replacing the value of attending and living at an institution like CalTech, Yale, or Harvard is beyond laughable.