It isn't only Ivy League grad students who are affected, although they may have issues specific to elite students -- many other institutions screw with the mental health of their graduate students. For example, the "let-down effect" is common among state institution students...essentially, the idea is that students often have high expectations for the graduate experience. Once enrolled, they find themselves in a program that doesn't meet their expectations...they find themselves surrounded by people and professors who may or may not understand them (hell, or even like them!). Even more, they feel duped because they've often had to pick up their lives and move to a strange town...they're out of the their element. For Ivy Leaguers, they find that they aren't as exceptional as they once believed, surrounded by fierce competition, etc. They look to professors for support and, when they don't get that approval they seek or that praise they often desperately need, they become depressed..in the case of the Harvard student, suicidal. I've seen it happen to exceptionally bright students at UF. Ideally, they move on to another institution more suited to not only there academic needs, but emotional ones.
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