Yea, hopefully my post didn't indicate that I agreed with the process. You certainly listed plenty of counter examples why it can miss the mark.

But my point was about Statistics. The HR warlords for all those defense/aero companies that have set these limits have done so because it segments the pool of candidates to one with a lower chance of bust (or so they've decided as such).

I'd like to see data, I'm some HR or consulting group somewhere has it. Or maybe it doesnt exist. A simple logistic regression problem with a high number of variables (degree or not, age, major, self-study, continuing ed, etc etc).

edit: also - all my comments are speaking from the engineering side of these companies. not IT. So the actual work content is a bit different than the original article may be concerned with.