@ucbalumnus:
“It is not that consideration of which PhD program the applicant studied at implies consideration of which undergraduate school the applicant studied at, but that it carries an implicit consideration of how well the applicant did as an undergraduate (regardless of which undergraduate school), since that affects which PhD program was willing to admit the applicant.”
Do you consider that surprising or wrong?
Though it’s not quite true that only undergrad matters. I know of too many examples of people who effed up undergrad but turned it around later, doing well in a master’s program or somewhere and got in to a PhD program or med school and became a renown prof/doctor.
But yes, you would have to be stellar at some point to attain an elite position.
Is that shocking or wrong to you somehow?