The Ivies are, at least undergrad, only as useful as your networking skills. Getting good grades is a kind of networking in this context, but any method will work. Make lots of friends and these friends will wind up in high and helpful places down the road.
Other than that, you're better off being a bigger fish in a smaller pond, and if you're up for a masters or phd, cracking an Ivy later on…
I say this having completely misused my time at Yale on my studies and student employment (which I needed to help pay for things that would've been free if I'd taken the full ride at Madison).
What are the long-term benefits of attending an Ivy League school?
