I was trying to hire a lab tech back in the day, needed a BS in chemistry and some sense. I interview nine "locals", several from Miami U. with 3.9 GPAs. None of them had ANY clue about lab work, at all. Nada. Same with 2 from Xavier and one from UC. My boss finally found this fellow from Northwestern, sounded good to me, until I saw his resume, NW of Louisiana. Turned out to be one of the 2-3 best lab techs I ever had. One of the other two only had a two year degree. Another good one was from Ohio U, with an archeology degree. He learned stuff really quickly and was very hard working.