I had to Google what moo u. meant but I would hardly call Chicago or Michigan second-rate institutions. That was probably your point, but I definitely definitely wouldn't recoil at either. I've put a lot of thought into Chicago's department and I may even favor them over Princeton or Caltech...
I'm in my second year of undergrad at a top school and am seriously worried about my chances at grad school for HEP-th or HEP-ph.
I had pretty average/bad grades in my first year. I took classes lower than my actual level but got bored and unmotivated. I got mostly B's, a couple of A-'s, one A...