It's 4.0 at State U being a good bet for admission opportunity for grad school.
This reflects exactly my husband's and my experience with medical school. He went to a top Ivy undergrad, I went to an Ivy-equivalent top engineering school. We both did well but not the "top" in our major. Ended up at the same good medical school, but both had the experience where we didn't get interviews/admission to any of the top medical schools. We both also noted that others from our high school who had underperformed us in HS, and went to State U, DID get into top Ivy medical schools.
Needless to say, undergrad ended up being far more challenging of both of us than medical school, largely due to the peer group being a more "competitive" and level playing field compared to us.
This all being said - even in retrospect I wouldn't trade my experience at my undergrad - it was an amazing and life-changing experience to be in a place like that with so many like-minded, gifted individuals. So even though it was harder to "stand out" I gained so much from the kinship/friendships I developed, that I value those 4 years above all others during my educational journey. And - my family and my husband's got significant financial aid from both of our expensive institutions, such that our families (middle class incomes) could pay.
