<p>I'm planning to go to UT-Arlington for a civil engineering degree before heading on to a bigger graduate school for structural emphasis. (Of course, this is only my plan now.) Anyway, the problem is that it's not a very recognized school outside the DFW area. I'm likely going to this school because it's likely the cheapest of my options. </p>
<p>Long story short, is the prestige of a school really important? I mean, Arlington is in the major DFW metroplex, and the school has a career center with lots of options and openings just in the area alone.</p>
<p>This is merely a question of curiosity and will probably not change my decision.</p>
<p>Prestige is important if for example you want to go to graduate school at Caltech or MIT or Stanford.. other than the elite (top15 or 25), i am sure you will be just fine</p>
<p>I doubt prestige for undergraduate is important for graduate school admissions. MIT and Caltech wants diversity and can't fill up its entire class with students from "prestigious" schools.</p>
<p>The "prestige" of the school is a representation of how well the student did in High School. By the time of graduate school admissions, they care about how well you did in college, not how you did in high school.</p>
<p>If you go to graduate school, noone cares where you went for undergrad.</p>