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The key is taking full advantage of the resources the school offers. For example, our lowly ranked local State U. (by CC standards) has enormous opportunities for undergrad research in their Honors Program. They have a Research Program that can be added as a second major. The school is huge, but they are cultivating a group of about 1,700 kids for whom they are rolling out the red carpet with funding, one on one mentorships, collaborative projects, and intern positions within local institutions. Anyone who goes there and takes full advantage, and performs well, will not only an edge, but will be choosing from many fantastic opportunities by graduation.
Now, does the school have the highest ranking? No. Is it considered top tier? Nope. Household name across the country? Nada. But motivated students there are well supported and appear to have unlimited potential for scholarship and exposure to professionals within their chosen field. They graduate with a record of accomplishment (published works, research presentations, etc.) that you generally only expect to see among graduate students.
It would be very hard to convince me, given those circumstances, that students coming out of that program won't do exceptionally well. Oh, and by the way, nearly all of them are on full scholarship so they are getting that great education without any debt or depleted savings.
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