<p>ivictor,</p>
<p>Which top 20 school are you looking at, and what is your field of study? Also, have you already been accepted, and are they offering you financial assistance in the form of research or teaching assistantships? If so, take them. No question. If no funding is available, go to the cheapest school that still has a decent program in your field.</p>
<p>Most employers will not care about the name of the school you went to, especially after you have worked for them for a few years. They’ll be more concerned about how productive you are on the job. Anyone who tells you that you HAVE to have an education at a TOP 5 school in order to have any shot at being successful is just spoon-feeding you the college cool-aid. If you aspire to go to Berkeley or Stanford, that’s great, but PLEASE don’t throw in the towel on grad school if you did not get accepted.</p>