Yes. Elite hedge funds, private equity firms, etc. all care about academic credentials. Even within quant firms lots of Harvard grads will look to see if a candidate is a "Math 55er" and the grade received in the course if so.
The only thing less objectively "elite" than the American investment firm is the American House of Representatives.
Been in the industry for 20 years and never seen nepotism on the trading floor.
The quants own the trading floor.
The Yale crowd owns private equity and investment banking. Why? Because private equity and investment banking involve "literally talking to rich old white people" for a living.
Hence they hire the sons of the friends of said old white relics to powwow with them.
However, you can be absolutely sure that the quants pull in the big bucks.
Trading pays far more than investment banking.
Makes sense. Given what I know of the course material, it seems like a very solid indicator of the mathematical capabilities of a person.