That signal is pretty weak, though. Would you rather hire an English major who graduated from one of these two colleges, or a high school graduate with a good SAT score?
Depends on what my incentives are on the hiring end. Many jobs default to requiring a college degree, and hiring someone without one would require a lot of extra work on my end. Also hiring a high school grad over a college grad would involve me putting my reputation on the line by implicitly vouching for them. If the high school kid can't do the job I will get blamed for the bad hire since I broke the procedures put in place to prevent such a thing from happening. I the college graduate sucks at the job, well these things happen, you did what you could.
Your answer is reasonable but, it's entirely about the principal-agent problem.
What if you were the boss, and you were accountable only to yourself and your family?
A) Someone with a 4-year degree in English, from Pittsburg State (one of the two colleges in that study), and
B) Someone who just finished high school, and got a high SAT score.
Then I'd choose B. (Being a graduate of Pittsburgh State suggests an SAT score in the range 900 to 1200.)
I'm assuming you mean the same age, correct?
- an 18-year-old with a good SAT score, or
- a 22-year-old who graduated from Pittsburgh State, after majoring in English