Very much so. Look at it this way. You are in charge of admissions for graduate school/professional school at a university. You want to admit those with the best chance of succeeding. You get a two applications and can only accept one of them. Both applicants have a 4.0 GPA. Both have glowing recommendations from their professors. Both seem very enthusiastic about graduate school. One went to a top internationally-renowned school and the other to a small state college. The letters for the top school candidate come from professors famous in the field. Those from the state college candidate come from unknown professors. Which would you take? Most admissions directors would take the former.

Alumni tend to stick together. If you are up against another applicant with the same general skills and education and you share an Alma mater with the person making the decision there is a chance you will have a slight edge. Also some institutions are so well known they tend to impress even when it shouldn’t be an issue.

If you already know your field, research some of the leaders to see what schools they attended and check the forums and such for the field to see what the news is regarding schools offering new or advanced opportunities or swings in allegiances due to recent events.

Yes it does. If you intend to apply to a graduate program schools usually have a bias towards more prestigious schools and school that have stronger programs. Meaning if the choice between a graduate of a community college and an equally qualified person (and in some cases less qualified) from a “better” school often they will go with the “better”.

You’ll see that happen with jobs too.

The reputation, which is symbolized by the name, is essential to most opportunities, either work straight out of school, or if you intend to pursue further education. If you know what you want your major to be search for the major publications in that field, they should have rankings of both graduate and undergraduate schools.

if you plan to go to some type of graduate/medical/law school, then yes, where you get your undergraduate degree has a big effect on what opportunities are open to you at the next level.