"Elite" and "flagship" are two influential groupings used to conceptualize differences among higher education institutions, but rarely defined. We derive common features attributed to these groupings from a content analysis of 40 years of higher education literature. Next, we explore the relationship of these features to other institutional characteristics with multiple regression analyses of organizational-level data. We uncover "organizational tautology," a self-reinforcing manifestation of status beliefs and boundary work. Elite and flagship categories represent stylized facts used to legitimate groupings based on organizational status, reinforcing exclusionary beliefs by higher education insiders and their positions within an unequal higher education system.