My observation has essentially been all the random complaining you see online where “entry level requires experience,” which seems counterintuitive at first, is not counterintuitive if you consider than internships are really that pre-experience that “entry level” requires. So my unpopular opinion, and what I’ve observed in real life as being on the hiring committee or panel at top companies has been that for new grads top internships are an even more important signal than top schools.
That is, when hiring a new grad for an L3 spot or whatever, assuming they met the bar for the interview and in fact did an interview, first we look at interview performance, then internships (with an internship at our company with a successful outcome being the best), then school, then recommendations from current employees. Typically someone needs to have a good interview and one or more of the other things, more if less good at interview, potentially only one if outstanding at interview.
That is, when hiring a new grad for an L3 spot or whatever, assuming they met the bar for the interview and in fact did an interview, first we look at interview performance, then internships (with an internship at our company with a successful outcome being the best), then school, then recommendations from current employees. Typically someone needs to have a good interview and one or more of the other things, more if less good at interview, potentially only one if outstanding at interview.