Do graduate schools care what school you went to for your undergrad degree?

<p>So I know it's probably really early to even think about which grad school I want to go to considering I haven't even started college yet (or even college essays for that matter)... but do graduate schools care where you got your undergraduate degree? </p>

<p>I'm in California and I currently am planning on attending Santa Clara University or the University of San Francisco (which I'm likely to get accepted to) don't get me wrong I mean they're great schools SCU for business and USF for intl. relations & business definitely but for my graduate school I'm really aiming high to go to schools like Georgetown, Upenn or Columbia. </p>

<p>Would not going to a school as prestigious as Columbia for my undergrad affect my acceptance even if I keep my GPA up and do a lot of internships and extra curr. stuff? I mean the college you go to for your undergrad really only show how well you did in high school... so it really shouldn't.... right?</p>

<p>It is considered but you’re not going to get dinged right away because of it… For business school it should matter even less. Obviously going to HYPSM is definitely going to help when it comes to grad school, but not going to something as prestigious won’t be too big a deal. A lot of people have went from a lesser known school to a top tier grad school. Keep in mind though, a better school still helps even if just a little.
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<p>For a good MBA program your work experience will be much more important than the name of your undergraduate college.</p>

<p>The GRE or other graduate-level standardized exam will give them an idea of how well you stack up against applicants from “name” universities. When I was teaching at a Top 10 graduate program in chemistry, my TA’s came from all over the place, and there was no correlation between the undergraduate school’s prestige and the intelligence or ability of the incoming student. Even students coming from the same school varied widely in their abilities.</p>