[klmadfejno]

I went to a middle tier undergrad and a top tier grad school. The difference was night and day in terms of rigor and general academic interest. I don't know that the profs were particularly better or worse at one school, but the student body was very, very different in terms of interest and ability, and that has a huge impact on the way you learn. I took a single writing class in undergrad. Most students were not capable of writing an argument and supporting it with evidence. No hyperbole, the basic reasoning and writing ability of the average student is appalling. I would strongly favor environments that cluster only demonstrated high ability students.

[jnwatson]

In my experience the largest difference in rigor was the department. My macroeconomics class was laughably trivial ( spent a week on point/slope), but all my engineering and science classes had high expectations.