I've already written to you, so you know that I loved, loved, loved college. And I think with unlimited resources, I could have gone to the same college five times, majored in five different subjects, had five completely different sets of friends, and really enjoyed each time. My BA is in economics, but there was not much of a difference between the BA and the BS degrees where I went to school.
Are graduate programs really more rigorous? Well, I can think of a paper written by a high school student that was better than one I read by a graduate school classmate, so your mileage will vary. Although my GPA was considerably better in graduate school, I would also say that graduate school did kick my learning up a notch, and I've noticed that I really do think about issues differently--more analytically--than my friends who just have a BA. The university where I got my MA was a big, state-funded, research institution, and I'd say that the difference between the undergrads and graduate students there was more noticeable.
I'm a teacher, so my job is one that theoretically could be done with just an undergrad degree. I do get paid a little bit more for having an MA. If I had it to do over again, would I go straight into teaching and skip the MA? No way! Those were some of the best years of my life.
One more note, as someone who has served on a graduate school admission committee: do not try and second guess admissions committees. Each member of those committees has their own priorities, agendas, and biases. I've seen them unanimously turn down someone with solid grades and test scores, and I've seen them admit people with merely OK numbers for any number of reasons.
