<p>In terms of engineering I don’t believe it matters too much where you studied for undergrad. I’ve seen people from all sorts of different universities at top engineering schools. One reason I think Ivy leaguers want to stick with Ivy league grad school is because its an ego thing. They don’t want to feel they are dropping lower. For example, some of the best engineering programs are not top overall universities. Purdue is ranked 60 some overall( I think) but has one of the top engineering programs. For someone from Harvard “dropping” down to Purdue gives them to much shame.</p>