<p>One of the biggest differences the school is going to make is the level of opportunities you have. Some schools are going to have more and better research opportunities than others. Some are going to have more companies recruiting there for interns and for permanent jobs later on. If you go to a great school and don’t take advantage of these opportunities you’ll still be worse off than someone who went to a mediocre school and did do the research that was available, and did seek out internships even though they might not have been as prestigious, even if the two of you have the same GPA. Do go to a great school if you can since you’ll have a chance to do a lot of really great things, but like bonehead said, you’re not going to be screwed if you go to a lower tier school. And make sure you don’t get caught up in overall school rankings, since how good a school’s engineering program is doesn’t necessarily correlateA with their overall ranking.</p>
<p>Anyway, after a couple of years in industry nobody is going to care where you went to school. Engineering is about ‘what can you do for me?’ and the best indicator for the second company you want to work for is what you did for the first one, not what school you went to.</p>