<p>TopTier, good universities, including many of the universities and LACs you listed, but also some public flagships you omitted, like Cal, Michigan and UVa, appear to place a disproportionate number of alums into top graduate programs. However, I am not sure that is a result of the quality of the academic institutions or of the quality of their student bodies, but I am tempted to say the latter. One instance where attending a top university does seem to influence admissions decisions is in the case of top universities that have top graduate professional programs (Engineering, Medical, Law and MBA programs). Those programs indeed seem to give preference to their own undergraduate students. However, I do not think that is the case with PhD programs.</p>
<p>At any rate, the OP’s first priority is to get into a university with a workable financial package. If it turns out that Michigan and Ferris State are both affordable, then I think attending Michigan makes better sense as the experience there would likely be more well rounded.</p>