<p>well i was talking to some mom of a neighbor of mine that got into CUNY honors (its a city college program in NY for those of you who dont know, and its free tuition i think), anyway, she says to me that its not that important which undergraduate college you go to, but the graduate one is the one that jobs look at when hiring, so i ask, is that true at all?, i mean i can just go to a college thats not that good for my undergraduate years, and then just transfer to Princeton or something later on for the actual graduate years, so give me some pointers here please =D</p>
<p>It really depends what sort of graduate school you are aiming for. </p>
<p>If you wish to go to Medical School or get a PhD in a traditional field like Math or History, I agree to a degree that it doesn't really matter where you earn your undergraduate degree. </p>
<p>However, if you want to go for an MBA or Law school, the quality of the undergraduate institution matters. In the case of the MBA applicant, it does not matter directly, because MBA admissions committees care more about professional success than undergraduate academic success, but, landing a job that MBA programs recognize and respect is easier if one attends a good undergraduate institution. In the case of Law school, the numbers speak for themselves. Between 60% and 80% of Law students at top 10 Law schools earned their undergraduate degrees at the nation's top 5% undergraduate institutions.</p>
<p>And what if you decide not to go to graduate school whatsoever? Then once again, where you go for your go for college will matter. </p>
<p>Of course, going to a great undergraduate institution does not guarantee success and going to an average undergraduate institution does not damn a person to eternal failure. But to say that the quality of one's undergraduate institution doesn't matter is naive, simplistically idealistic and not entirely true.</p>