Is it smart to go to a lower ranked university?

Now I'm heading towards exam season at the end of my first year, I've been thinking about grades & grade inflation quite a bit. I've been speaking to my friends from back home and the majority of them have attained high 2:1's and firsts in their exams from universities that are on average around ABB entry criteria. My entry criteria was A*AA yet I have been getting high 2:1's with no firsts. So I became confused as to how all my friends have been getting better grades than me despite my significantly better A Level results, from the same school.

I then decided to look at the national statistics for universities and found that oxbridge has a first rate of around 33% with an entry criteria ranging from AAA-A*A*A. While universities such as West London, Greenwich, and Huddersfield are at 32% despite having entry criteria of B's, C's or just UCAS points.

I've been told by a lot of recruiters recently that many companies are now 'institution blind' just looking at university grades. If this is the case, then surely there is no point attending a top institution, where even though one student may have attained significantly better grades at A Level and likely worked much harder for a 2:1 , another student with significantly worse grade A Level grades can get a first. Is it not then illogical to go to top universities?

To me it seems completely fair to discriminate on the basis of institution, because clearly the data shows that grades are given relative to the intelligence at a given university, not relative to a national scale. Surely not discriminating will simply provide a 'false equality' by giving worse candidates a leg up, and it will also destroy the idea of meritocracy?

Now I'm heading towards exam season at the end of my first year, I've been thinking about grades & grade inflation quite a bit. I've been speaking to my friends from back home and the majority of them have attained high 2:1's and firsts in their exams from universities that are on average around ABB entry criteria. My entry criteria was A*AA yet I have been getting high 2:1's with no firsts. So I became confused as to how all my friends have been getting better grades than me despite my significantly better A Level results, from the same school.

I then decided to look at the national statistics for universities and found that oxbridge has a first rate of around 33% with an entry criteria ranging from AAA-A*A*A. While universities such as West London, Greenwich, and Huddersfield are at 32% despite having entry criteria of B's, C's or just UCAS points.

I've been told by a lot of recruiters recently that many companies are now 'institution blind' just looking at university grades. If this is the case, then surely there is no point attending a top institution, where even though one student may have attained significantly better grades at A Level and likely worked much harder for a 2:1 , another student with significantly worse grade A Level grades can get a first. Is it not then illogical to go to top universities?

To me it seems completely fair to discriminate on the basis of institution, because clearly the data shows that grades are given relative to the intelligence at a given university, not relative to a national scale. Surely not discriminating will simply provide a 'false equality' by giving worse candidates a leg up, and it will also destroy the idea of meritocracy?

I don't see why preferring graduates from universities that have better teaching and require better A-level grades to get in constitutes 'discrimination'. A first from a high-ranked and a low-ranked university will not necessarily be valued in the same way, considering that courses at higher ranked universities tend to be much more demanding.

Surely they're just selecting the graduates that are more academically able and likely to succeed in their career?

You're reiterating exactly the point I was making. 'Discrimination' was used because I've heard the argument time and time again that a first is a first regardless of university. Meaning to some it is unjust to pick students on the basis of their institution, and therefore discriminatory.