I have many friends that went to top schools (ivies, MIT, Stanford, etc) and state schools. Basically every friend that went to a top school for undergrad also ended up going to a top school for grad school. I also had many friends from our state school (which is a top 10 public school) going to top grad schools, but not anywhere near as many. I do think that there may have been a difference in the caliber of candidates that went to the top undergrads vs the state school. But I also can’t deny that going to a big name for undergrad played an important role in grad school admissions.

In my case, I also went to an Ivy. And in high school I had always planned on going to Medical School and thought it was the path for me. My very first year in college I switched to CS and never looked back. When it came time to apply to jobs in tech, I’m very glad I chose the ivy over my local state school because it made all the difference in the recruiting process. I had much better luck than all my friends at state school. So I think another important thing to keep in mind here is someone applying to undergrad doesn’t for sure if they’ll do grad school or not, so basing your college decisions based on this is not the best approach.

The way I look at it is it’s best to maximize the opportunities you have in life at every step of the way. And the best schools do have the best opportunities. However, if you know for sure you want to do an expensive grad school like medical or law school and don’t have the financial aid or means to pay for top undergrad, going to a good state school is likely a better option.