‘Employers are increasingly turning to degree and GPA’ in hiring: Recruiters retreat from ‘talent is everywhere,’ double down on top colleges

Higher education is undergoing an identity crisis. Repeated attacks from the Trump administration, the rise of AI, and budget shortfalls have put top universities on the defensive as public sentiment on the value of a college degree sours. But a trend in company hiring suggests that elite colleges aren’t losing their edge anytime soon. A 2025 survey of over 150 companies found that more than a quarter, 26%, were recruiting from a brief selection of schools, up from 17% that were doing the same in 2022, according to recruiting intelligence firm Veris Insights, which conducted the research. Even most of the surveyed companies that weren’t recruiting from a shortlist of universities said they were focusing on “target schools,” while also accepting applications from a list of other schools. That means candidates from prestigious universities that are located close to a company’s headquarters are typically given priority, according to Chelsea Schein, Veris’s vice president of research strategy, the Wall Street Journal reported. “Employers are increasingly turning to degree and GPA in a hiring decision,” Schein told Fortune. “There’s an increasing recognition among employers that they can be more targeted in their approach.” “Talent is everywhere” hiring seems to have fallen out of style for many reasons, according to entry-level recruiters. For one, it’s expensive. It takes high sums to set up meetings with candidates and get recruiters to campuses across the country. Further, AI-generated résumés have made many applications appear identical, causing some recruiters to fall back on university prestige to distinguish candidates. And for many companies, DEI is no longer a priority. This hiring trend harkens back to pre-pandemic days and the tight labor market of 2018 and 2019, when firms prioritized in-person interaction, according to researchers specializing in entry-level recruitment. Today, most firms recruit from ab