USC vs. UC Berkeley vs. CMU vs. NYU

This may help out:

http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/comprehensive-list-of-target-schools

In short, yes.

I personally think the method banks use to determine what counts as a target school and what doesn’t is quite stupid, but it is what it is. And going to a target school makes a big difference over going to a semi-target/non-target.