Hiring managers have long used the reputation of a new college graduate’s alma mater as an indicator of an applicant’s ability and expected job performance. Elite national consulting, banking and investment firms focused their recruiting on the Ivy League and a handful of the other most selective schools. Big companies looked more widely, but still often favored a limited number of highly ranked universities. Regional firms would tap graduates of schools with the best reputations in their geographic area. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.