I feel great about my degree from my third tier college. I learned a lot I didn't expect to, got into a top tier grad school afterwards, and came away with no debt. Maybe me and the millions of other third tier college students are too dumb to know what's good for us, though.

The competition for faculty jobs at any college is typically fierce, which means you can find excellent faculty almost anywhere.

I have been to a "third tier" college, but do you learn nothing there?