<p>At least in engineering, students from top undergrad programs are disproportionately represented among domestic students (internationals are still the majority). Here’s where it comes in:</p>
<p>1) You should have letters from more well-known professors.
2) You have more resources. Your research should’ve been better.
3) Most grad school recommendation forms ask the letter writer to rank the student. I don’t mean the GPA-based rank, just subjective things like “top 1%”. This counts for a lot more than most people realize. Top 10% out of Berkeley probably counts the same as top 3% from a lower UC and “best in 5 years” from some no-name college. Yes, that last one is a real check box in some letter forms. If you can get that one from Berkeley, no-name undergrads basically can’t touch you.</p>
<p>However, most of it’s probably accounted for by the fact that top programs just have better students in the first place. Anyway, grad school apps are reviewed by professors, not professional admissions committees. They know how to account for differences in undergraduate programs.</p>