Realistically, employers are simply seeking to reduce the number of applicants down to manageable levels. When you have 1,000 people lined up at the door for a

Realistically, employers are simply seeking to reduce the number of applicants down to manageable levels. When you have 1,000 people lined up at the door for a job, you cannot meaningfully evaluate them all and need to find a mechanism to quickly eliminate most of them. You also need a method is deemed legally acceptable. Throwing out all the resumes of women, for example, could land you in some legal hot water. Degrees are one of the few filters that is deemed legally acceptable. It's there to keep the lawyers happy and little else.