Originally Posted by HowlerKarma
I'm increasingly of the opinion-- and I'm not alone-- that the better bet for highly capable students is to get out of undergraduate studies without debt, and not to worry over-much about the branding of one's diploma.
It depends on what they want to do afterwards. The brand does matter for finance and consulting jobs. It matters less for aspiring physicians and professors, I think, but for the latter group the graduate school matters a lot.