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<p>I think that’s also a little bit of selection bias. Like I said, I’m not saying that admissions committees <em>ignore</em> where you went to undergrad. But the most driven, motivated, and ambitious students (the ones most likely to go to grad school) are also more likely to go to top institutions. I’m fairly certain that someone from a second- or third-tier school could get into a top PhD program in the vast majority of fields, given that they have the credentials. (But a school that they have never heard of may give them a little pause.)</p>