<p>All other things being equal, it is obviously better to have a 3.4 gpa from Dartmouth than Indiana State. So I do not agree that the prestige of the school you go to for undergraduate doesn’t matter at all.</p>
<p>However, that doesn’t mean you can’t still be a success in life if you can only afford to go to, and/or can only get into, Indiana State.</p>
<p>Having gone to big name schools has indeed helped me over the years. But my mother’s second husband went to MIT, and he was living in a trailer park when she met him.</p>
<p>Reagan went to Eureka College. Nixon went to Whittier College.</p>
<p>I know for a fact that kids who went to Nova Southeastern University and Florida International University have gotten into med school. </p>
<p>My kid, who has high SAT scores, will probably soon face a similar issue. Whether to spend 50K a year to go to a big name private college, or instead go to a state university.</p>
<p>If you major in the right field, like biology or computers or the like, you will do fine even if you don’t go to a big name school.</p>
<p>The schools typically mentioned on CC are probably the top five percent in the whole country. That doesn’t mean the other 95% are no good.</p>