<p>I did undergrad at a top school and am doing graduate work at a university that is, well, definitely not a top university.</p>
<p>The advantages
[ul][<em>]Academically, the program is very strong. Only Chicago is better in the western hemisphere.
[</em>]Good fit with faculty interests.
[li]Students in the program are all top-notch.[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>The disadvantages
[ul][<em>]Library resources are pretty abysmal.
[</em>]Funding is not very good (think $7-10K yearly stipends…).
[<em>]The undergraduates I work with are mostly lazy and unmotivated.
[</em>]TAs are expected to grade starting year 1 and teach starting year 2.[/ul]</p>
<p>For me, the advantages mostly outweighed the disadvantages, but that is not true for a good many applicants. </p>
<p>On a practical note, I only applied to top universities (except my current one) because those are the only universities to even offer my program. Brown, Chicago, Johns Hopkins, Michigan, Penn, Penn State, UCLA, Yale – that’s about it.</p>