MOST hiring managers in the US, outside of specific industries, aren’t that interested in where you went to college and most don’t know USNWR rankings. They know some programs because they themselves attended, have colleagues who attended, have hired interns who performed well. But they know they can’t possibly know the thousands of colleges in the US.
They’re more interested in what internships you’ve had, if you’ve had this or that class they’ve found important for the position, what leadership experiences you’ve had, etc. Essentially, what do you bring to the table.
If it’s an industry where name-dropping matters or a pedigree is expected (IB, IR, film) it makes a difference, but in many cases it doesn’t.
Rather than prestige, what matters is how good the career center is, how connected the college is, how they use their alumni network.
State schools do very well in hiring simply because there are lots of high-quality kids in one location, which makes sending someone to the career fair more efficient for a company. Location sometimes helps, such as what happened with SJSU which is a pretty mediocre university except it’s located in the Silicon Valley and is thus heavily recruited for CS and related majors.
Societies’ emphasis on a single test is bad for society in that it’s bad for kids and has a funnel system that emphasizes rote learning, conformity, and physical resistance.
In the US, you don’t demonstrate value to a company by passing one 9-hour test, but what you’re able to do. It’s a very hands-on, experience-based culture.