Yes, I will freely admit that prestige to me is extremely important in picking a college–but prestige is very relevant in certain fields, particularly for law (which is my career) and for international careers (which I’ve had). I’ve worked overseas, and having a known school on a resume will open doors. People abroad have probably heard of Berkeley, but Yale trumps them all.
@ucbalumnus, undergraduate prestige (not just law school prestige) also matters a lot in law firm hiring, particularly in on-campus recruiting in law schools and but also for jobs at least in the first few years out of law school. It’s not just where you go to law school that matters for someone in the legal field. You can find various studies of this online. Ask my co-workers, who will overlook a poorly-ranked law school if the candidate went to a highly-ranked undergraduate school.
@Kelowna, in my personal experience, having attended a school ranked about at the Berkeley/Vanderbilt level for undergrad and then one ranked around the Yale level (but not Yale) for law school, there’s a world of difference in terms of outcomes and alumni networks, particularly for the careers that are described in your post, except medical school, where I understand, without any first-hand knowledge, that undergrad school shouldn’t matter. (Similarly, if the goal were to be a programmer in a tech company or various other careers, it wouldn’t matter.) Pick Yale.