<p>1sokkermom: “I still see no direct correlation…”</p>
<p>Quite true, but there is likely an indirect correlation between a school’s ability to consitently produce an important subgroup of the future top people in a given field, and the overall quality of the school’s undergraduate program.</p>
<p>And in this case, the OP specifically said she was interested in getting a PhD, so it’s helpful to know which schools show the best results at providing the quality preparation to that end.</p>