Reputable professors are not necessarily the best teachers... Especially at the undergrad level.
The top students at both schools were quite close in ability, drive, motivation and talent. There may have been a couple a very little smarter at the name school, but not many, and not enough to make a material difference.
But the mid and bottom students at the average school were quite a bit worse than the mid and bottom students at the name school. And it wasn't even close.
So, in my experience at least, there are definitely students worth hiring at both places, but you have to sift through quite a bit more students at the average schools.
Harvard, maybe. MIT? Their undergrads are great — of the interns we get, MIT and Cal Tech undergrads are leaps and bounds above those from other schools.
The name of the school means very little to me as a result of my experiences. Especially now that I interview a lot of people and have a really hard time seeing any differences between them based on education.
Hats off to the folks who got the great education at a discount. In a way they may have made the smarter decision.