I don't understand why graduate schools treat all students the same, when it's no big secret that...?

Question

some universities are harder than others...

What's preventing lazy people from choosing an easy major, at an easy college, to pad their GPA? Even though the pre reqs are the same, the difficulty throughout the schools are not...

Or do graduate school secretly do consider the student's background university, and just not admit it...??

Answer 1

Grad school do consider the undergrad school a student went to, factor that in, but they also assume the student is there to learn, not just to get points.  They take a look at a lot of stuff, not just grades, to see if what that student has been doing with his whole life is what they want in one of their own students.  And in the end, if someone went to an easy undergrad school and took the easiest program there was, they probably won't be able to survive grad school which relies heavily on the student's own motivation and organization to do the work; the profs and admin. aren't going to babysit students, they won't call him at home to say he's missed X number of classes.  They assume you're mature and serious enough about studying to look out for your own interests, consult your profs (and others you may find a need for) on your own, have good study habits so you can make it through grad school.  

Answer 2

Grad schools totally consider school. There are a disproportionate number of elite college grads at every top grad school.

Answer 3

Yes, grad schools are aware of how grades translate between universities, and they look at the standardized tests.  That said, people get into top grad schools from a broad variety of under-grad programs.