Employers Like State School Grads, Not Ivy Leaguers

Move over Harvard; when it comes to hiring entry-level employees, most businesses prefer to recruit from state schools, according to a new survey. The Wall Street Journal polled 479 of the country’s largest companies and asked where they did their recruiting. Of the top 25 schools they named, 19 were public, and only one, Cornell, was Ivy League.

The top-ranked schools were Penn. State, Texas A&M, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Those employers who preferred Ivy League schools and elite liberal arts schools said they valued their employees intellect and cachet with clients. But most employers said they preferred employees with practical skills to make up the bulk of their work force—and they turned to state and private schools for that. (More college stories.)