text: Better name colleges have, obviously, a better name. The reputation that they have a better program could be reason enough to attend there. Being able to say you went to Yale can go a long way, even if you're no better than some guy who went to the state university.\n\nHowever, some colleges actually earn their better name. Some colleges have much better programs than others; for example, NC State University has a very good design school, engineering department, and agricultural sciences department. If you study one of those fields there, than you will learn more than if you studied somewhere else. Thus, often enough, a university with a good reputation might just be able to back it up.\n\nAs an aside, a university's department is a combination of a team of professors specifically recruited to the university for their high expertise, advisors and administration with experience, well-designed (in theory) courseloads, and dedicated students. A dedicated student probably won't do as well without all those resources, so you'd be well-advised to look for a good university.