Good points, but I'd push back a bit on the "skills shatter doors" idea. Honestly it's often not what you know, it's who you know, and that's exactly where the lower-ranked colleges hurt. You miss the connections and the good teachers who can actually advise you on how to land a job, not just teach the syllabus.

Just a small thing, but I used Claude Cowork to connect to Fast mail to automate and file all my emails. Every morning I end up with a zero mailbox. Simple thing, but so helpful.