Education doesn’t depend on where you go for college. For example one of my kid was also top students in one middle school, we then moved to a different high school with much tougher than her previous high school. When it comes time to admission, she was accepted to USC and not UCLA nor UCB. But friends who attend previous high schools with much lower capabilities were accepted to UCLA and UCB. On CC, USC is not viewed the same caliber as UCLA and UCB, not back in 2008. Looking on Facebook, none of those kids turned out better than my kid. I mean education helps the person and it starts from day one not after k-12. So if you go to a tough boarding school or such, you’ve been sharpening your academic skills all along. So the kids that have been at Cornell all 4 years have their tools sharpening since day one of their college career. It’s not a waste. But it’s still depend on you and not college even if you go to CC and then transfer in.
But I don’t think employers care. When I was interviewing I noticed a difference between a 4-year graduate from UCB and the kids who transferred in from CC to UCB.