So much for the death of the elite degree

"There's really been a return to a demand for people coming from top academic backgrounds. For better or worse, these top companies use this metric as a way to weed out the thousands of people that apply to them every year."

"A 2025 survey of more than 150 employers found that 26% said they were recruiting exclusively from a select group of schools, up from 17% in 2022, according to research conducted by Veris Insights."

"There was a time period when people were predicting that everyone could just go to a bootcamp or skip college, and it's all about their innate talent or their raw ability to code. That may still be true for some companies, but particularly in quantitative finance and the most sought-after technology companies to work for, I've seen just the opposite of that."

During the tight labor market of recent years, employers relaxed hiring standards and recruited from diverse educational backgrounds. As hiring has slowed, this trend has reversed significantly. A 2025 survey shows 26% of employers now recruit exclusively from select schools, up from 17% in 2022. Top companies use elite university credentials as a filtering mechanism to manage high application volumes. Recruitment firms specializing in quantitative finance and technology report strong demand for graduates from top academic institutions. Leaner hiring teams and reduced recruitment budgets have further narrowed focus to established universities. The earlier prediction that bootcamps and raw talent could replace traditional degrees has not materialized in competitive sectors like quantitative finance and sought-after technology companies.

Read at Business Insider