I know this is two days late, but this is also true for jobs in general , even if someone is willing to relocate on their own dime. My S, when he was unemployed , would get auto rejected for jobs he was qualified for. We eventually made sure that location was not his resume and that helped.
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The shade is never moot. Nevermind that Stanford had one of the best athletics programs in the country. As a Cal fan, I hate to acknowledge that, but it is true.
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However, some employers prefer currently employed applicants and are more likely to reject those currently unemployed.
But they should accept that such hiring preference selects for employees who are likely to lead to higher employee turnover.
Typically jobs will note if relo is available it’s possible but there’s no way to know.
Some simply don’t want to interview those unemployed, holding it against them.
Another platitude that is widely accepted is that it’s easier to find a job when you currently have a job. That said, when a person is between jobs so they could possibly list themselves as an independent contractor, self employed or some such title. I have a relative who has been out of work for many years, but has given himself a remarkably fancy title 
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Umm, so sorry - no shade intended just never seem to fill their football stadiums with fans. Lots of other good qualities 
like top tier education, etc. just not sure what alumni clubs get together en masse.
Agree if you had said “non-football” schools, I would have let it pass. But “non-athletic” especially for Stanford which literally has one of the most successful sports programs in the country, I had to say something. They win championships, produce pros, and make NCAA tourney in so many sports. Non-athletic is a misnomer for them without question.
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If anyone lives in Middle TN or has the way to spend the summer here (Nashville TN area), here’s a legit internship for you. I know a few TN kids/families post here. The job is in Franklin, TN.
Got a linked in note from a contact so I’m confident it’s legit. Send me a DM and I’ll send you the link.
Automotive friends, do you know a rising college junior or senior who would like to work in the industry? XXXXX s offering an internship in Aftersales this summer - it’s an opportunity to experience both the corporate and field sides of the business. Comes with a company car. Must live in Middle TN or have the ability to couch surf there. 
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MY KID GOT A JOB OFFER!!!
Woo Hoo!!!
It’s one of the companies that he was interviewing with before Thanksgiving - he figured since it’s been radio silence for more than a month that they were ghosting him, but I guess it was just holiday season whatever. Anyhoo, he’s so excited. It’s the right industry, kind of a not great location but doable for at least a few years, and salary is good enough (it’s not great, but considering he’s in a more rural location than what he was hoping for, it’s not bad for where he is).
I’m just so excited for him. He applied to probably another 20 jobs or so over winter break, but you could tell it’s been stressing him out worrying about finding something, and the things that he’s been finding to apply to have been less and less on point for his interests.
So! Yay!
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I’m so happy to read this! Congratulations to your son! Woohoo, is right!
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What a wonderful way to start the new year! Big congratulations to your son!
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Congratulations! That’s great news 
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From WSJ: The “talent is everywhere” mantra adopted by U.S. employers when the job market was white hot is giving way to a more traditional entry-level recruiting strategy: hire from a few select universities. More than a quarter are now exclusively recruiting from a shortlist of schools — a major jump from the 17% in 2022, according to Veris Insights.
Companies are pulling back on a wide-ranging hiring strategy for many reasons — it’s expensive, they need to distinguish between identical ChatGPT-generated resumes, and diversity recruiting has fallen out of favor.
Most companies now recruit only at up to 30 American colleges out of about 4,000, starting with top-ranked schools and then looking at local universities, said William Chichester, III, who has spent years directing entry-level recruiting at companies including Target and Peloton.
If you fall outside of those two categories? “God help you,” he added.
Can’t get beyond paywall but here’s a GPT summary
Summary: The piece argues that as the white-collar job market cools, employers are retreating from the “talent is everywhere” pandemic-era approach and going back to a tighter “target school” model—concentrating entry-level recruiting on a smaller set of elite (and/or conveniently located) universities. (Wall Street Journal)
What’s driving the shift
Lower hiring + cost pressure: Companies are narrowing campus travel and event spend, making fewer schools “worth” repeated visits. (Wall Street Journal)
Less emphasis on DEI in school selection: A Veris Insights survey cited in the article shows more firms using shortlists and fewer saying diversity is a key factor in choosing campuses. (Wall Street Journal)
Notable data points and examples
Shortlists are more common: Veris Insights (2025 survey of 150+ companies) found 26% recruit only from a shortlist of schools (up from 17% in 2022). (Wall Street Journal)
GE Appliances: Moved from doing quick passes through ~45–50 schools to a ~15-school list, with multiple events each semester; selection factors include proximity to HQ, majors offered, rankings, and alumni involvement. (Wall Street Journal)
BILL (fintech): Focused recruiting on colleges near its offices (e.g., San Jose and Draper) as part of cost-trimming. (Wall Street Journal)
McKinsey: Re-centering on ~20 “core” campuses with more in-person, relationship-driven recruiting—while also using AI to identify strong candidates beyond those core schools. (Wall Street Journal)
Bottom line: The article’s message is that this return to “old-school” target-school recruiting is one more headwind for new grads—especially those outside the prestige/network funnel—because access to interviews and alumni touchpoints becomes more uneven when companies narrow where they show up. (Wall Street Journal)
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Bill (the fintech company mentioned) was noted as focusing on schools near San Jose and Draper. But SJSU, SCU, UU, UVU, and BYU are not HYP level in “elite” prestige.
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The gift link to the WSJ article was posted yesterday in this thread. Admissions platitudes that annoy you? - #163 by BKSquared
The article talks about Purdue and Auburn being target schools too so the title is misleading.
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Many people, myself included, would consider Purdue and its flagship peers to be “elite” engineering schools
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This quote from the WSJ gift link from @BKSquared is both damning and praising of non-elite grads at the same time:
McKinsey doesn’t want large numbers of students from other schools to apply because most would be rejected, which wouldn’t benefit them or the firm, Ciesil said. Instead, recruiters will use AI to find students on noncore campuses who have similar profiles to McKinsey’s star hires, she said. That could mean the same major or similar extracurricular activities, for example.
Firm data show that hires from noncore campuses often perform better than those from core schools, she added. Last year McKinsey ultimately hired from about 80 schools.
“We know that this distinctive talent is not only centered at a handful of, I’ll call them, elite sources,” Ciesil said.
Essentially their position seems to be that there’s high-level talent everywhere, but not in sufficient proportions for McKinsey to do a high-touch application process beyond their “shortlist of about 20 core schools,” so they’ll call you, don’t call them.
But one of my takeaways from the article is that, in this climate, geography matters. Big names are still recruiting at non-elite colleges, but they’re the non-elite colleges that are near them. So GE & Yum Brands are at U. of Louisville, and Wells Fargo and Bank of America are at Johnson C. Smith, but it’s because they’re geographically near while meeting the companies’ expectations for student quality. So if there are particular industries a student is interested in they may want to be taking a more serious look at colleges near those industries.
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The observation of finding gems in unusual places definitely has been my experience in Big Law and IB. The juniors who came from not top tier schools tended to be “hungrier” than those from top tiers. I think they knew that they were starting a half step behind their “Ivy” colleagues. For most junior level tasks, work ethic > “brilliance”.
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Important missing prepositional phrase, though: for those industries and companies that primarily recruited in those ways before the pandemic.
And it’s absolutely false that most companies start their recruiting strategy at only up to 30 US colleges (since the vast majority of companies are small businesses that recruit only or at least primarily locally). That is a ridiculous claim on its face, and if that’s an accurate description of what he said, it makes me wonder about both Chichester’s competence and what sort of snake oil he’s selling.
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Great news!
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