I agree with the other poster who suggested you look at top flight grad programs and look where students are coming from. Sure, you'll see Ivies, but also plenty of state school grads as well as grads from small liberal arts colleges you've probably never heard of. They most important thing is what students do with their education while they are in college. Lazy students don't do well no matter where they go. Smart, go getters can do amazing things at all sorts of schools. It is that undergraduate record, research, scores that get students into grad school.
Totally agree! I know it's anecdotal, but I started a top-10 economics phD program (never finished), and none of the American students were from Ivies. I went to Pitt for undergrad, the other two from my class went to University of Miami (Ohio) and Northwestern (and the other 15 were from other countries). Going to an Ivy for undergrad matters more to the student who is probably not going to be a stand-out in academics and is very interested in making connections.
College is what you make of it.
