confidentialcoll

I think the clearest industries are probably finance and consulting, even mediocre (average gpa average extracurriculars) students at top schools get interviews with prestigious divisions at top finance and consulting firms and several get offers. Law cares religiously about which law school you go to and law schools seem to care a little about prestige (more about lsat though). Med schools don't seem to care much where you go to undergrad.

not sure how other industries view prestige, but I have a hard time believing that any of them care about prestige as much as finance and consulting appear to.

caveat: you also see some students from state schools and unknown schools make it finance and consulting, but these tend to be the absolutely top students at their univ, something like 3.8+ gpa along with high performer / captain of varsity sports team for example. Sometimes people will get in because they come from rich and connected backgrounds.

also no industry requires prestige, but some clearly favor prestigious colleges.