I'd like to bump this post given the timing. By now I'm sure many of you have just received your R2 decisions and many of the fortunate ones have the difficult task of deciding between several institutions.
For those struggling to make a decisions I'd suggest reading this article:
'It Doesn't Matter Where You Go to College': Inspirational, but WrongIt has a very provoking title and is directed more towards a high school audience. However, I think the author brings about a few good points. Many people become obsessed with going to H/S/W and only those schools. And although a large number of people from those schools go on to become extremely successful, it is likely because those people were going to be successful anyways.
I like to think a lot of people who go to Harvard go merely for some sort of validation and not out of any need to.