<p>I agree that the school’s name doesn’t mean anything, nor do I care. I mainly care about the strength of their faculty and research. If a local city college had the same credentials and funds as any top-tier school, of course I would choose it. But the fact of the matter is that brand name schools just happen to have better programs in general. Many lower-ranked schools do not even offer the opportunity or option to perform intimate research for specific areas. Then there are schools like SUNY who do offer it, but are very weak in those areas (low rate of publication, unmotivated professors, awards won by the department such as Nobel laureate production, saturated research groups with very little chance of independent research, too little funding to get the research going, etc.). I’m not familiar with the academic system enough to assume a reason why schools with famous names are strong in these fields, but I’m guessing it’s because they have more money, and charge more tuition to those that can afford it.</p>