[celerity]

I am a math Ph.D. student, and one of my professors went straight to Princeton after 3 years of college without his degree. He impressed a Princeton professor enough to have him offer a position there, which he could apparently do. My professor took the offer, not only because it was fantastic in its own right, but also because he only took math courses as an undergrad, and getting his bachelor's degree would have meant taking a year of humanities -- a nightmare!

This isn't that strange. A lot of universities are private institutions, so they can accept whom they please.

[tantalor]

I doubt the public-or-private distinction matters in hiring choices.