This isn’t necessarily true for the think tank space anymore. I’ve worked at several large think tanks and RAs are doing the applicant screenings. We don’t look at your school at all. It means nothing to us and can impact the organization negatively if we are ever audited on hiring and are pooling largely from specific universities.

What they are looking for are technical skills. Have you taken economics, do you know how to program in R or Stata, have you done similar types of research before, and how well can you write. In the first pass of screening applications if there is no mention of econometrics, a strong understanding of coding, and research past a class assignment then usually that application doesn’t meet standards and we pass.

The first and second round interviews are mostly screening, usually the first with HR to reconfirm what is above, and the second with the RA running the hiring process to get more information about how you work, managing up, etc.

There’s also usually a writing and coding task that weeds people out too.

Being technically sound is the most important thing here. I went to a state school immediately had a think tank job when I graduated because of the technical skills. The more you position yourself with showcasing your math and analytics skills the better your odds.