Also, I should mention: highly competitive employers do filter based on school ranking, both in recruiting (acting looking for people), but also in hiring. For

Also, I should mention: highly competitive employers do filter based on school ranking, both in recruiting (acting looking for people), but also in hiring. For example, requiring extra approvals to hire someone who did not attend a top N school for their major. So it can be rational for a student to stretch hard to get into a higher ranked school. (I know this from being personally involved in this at more then one company)