[throwaway123mmm]

I completely agree with you.

Unfortunately, it seems like the parent poster never had colleagues from top universities. There is a reason that google is in Zurich, Munich, etc... and not next to random universities.

In general (exceptions always exist) there is much more potential in people who have finished 'good' universities. They are finishers. They dont give up and do whats needed to reach their goal.

[oneplane]

Out of all the students I graduated with only 1 or 2 (one of them ended up quitting during the grace period so it depends on how you want to count that) ended up with jobs that they only got because of our university, and none of my current colleagues were selected based on where they got their MS or BS. Two of the ex-Googlers we have here were selected by Google for their MS, but then again, rather the exception (only a small number of jobs use ranking) than the rule.

We select on merit, drive and competence applied recently. And where you got your MS or BS or if you have one at all weighs proportionally to the rest (and in the past 2 years we haven't even had anyone join any of the teams where it even mattered if they had one at all because their were selected on the rest).