<p>Was wondering what thoughts/facts there are on this?</p>
<p>Will going to a smaller/less prestigious university lower one's shot at going to grad school or getting a job? Considering that all other things like grades, test scores, etc are equal.</p>
<p>Pretty much this is trying to compare going to Texas A&M or to Texas State as a transfer student.</p>
<p>It depends on the major, grad school, and job you are considering.</p>
<p>For PhD programs, strength and reputation in major are most important, though often it is the experience of the department at the grad school of previous PhD students from the undergraduate school that determines how they view that undergraduate school.</p>
<p>For professional schools like law and medicine, test scores (LSAT, MCAT, etc.) and GPA are most important, though it should be noted that more selective schools tend to have better test takers because they admit partially based on SAT or ACT scores, so they tend to have more students who score well on the professional school admission tests.</p>
<p>For jobs, local employers tend to come and recruit, but non-local ones are likely to prefer larger or better known schools. School prestige consciousness varies by industry and company; finance and consulting are generally regarded as highly school prestige conscious, while engineering is generally regarded as being much less school prestige conscious, though reputation of the school in major does have an effect when deciding where to go recruit.</p>