<p>the quality of the undergraduate program means very little compared to a “prestigious” school with plenty of name recognition, especially for top tier grad programs. with grad programs that receive several hundred applications, the first round of rejections is all based on nonsense numbers, like the GRE, and name recognition. you can even work your ash off getting lots of research experience under your belt as an undergrad at a lower-tier school, and it can still be worthless to a grad admissions committee if you worked with a professor they don’t know.<br>
Grad admissions is a lot of bs really. so I guess my advice would be got to a top-tier undergrad program, or a lower-tier program if there’s a prof there who is one of the top in his/her field. (there are actually many, really brilliant profs at lower-tier schools; ironically, there are quite often some very unimpressive profs at prestigious schools who think very highly of themselves while doing very poor research.)</p>
<p>and no, I’m not bitter if it sounds like it above. I’m actually at Cornell for my PhD. i worked my ash off at a SUNY school for undergrad, then obtained my master’s from one of the top programs in my field. so I’m not bitter about Ivies.</p>