In an initial hiring decision among recent graduates with no significant work history, it makes more sense to hire the Harvard graduate. He has been vetted by the selective admissions committee.
The Late Bloomer and the Ivy Leaguer
Tim Mathews
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With the exception of the above, whole-heartedly agree. But unless you’re hiring the applicant in their first semester, then again you run afoul of the Ivy-heuristic. You have GPAs and majors to help vet your applicant. You can determine if the Latin honors graduate from a large state university is a better candidate than the 2.0 applicant from Yale. Or if the 2.8 football captain with an electrical engineering major from FSU is inferior to the 3.6 botany major from Brown.