Abstract: Based on the data of Chinese Household Income Project that contains rich personal work experiences, a study is conducted under the employer learning framework. The findings show that the “211 Project”university degree has a significant dynamic impact on the income changes of college students. This phenomenon of prestigious schools’ prestige is mainly manifested in the fact that the initial salary of“211 Project”university graduates in their first job is on average 24.9% higher than that of non“211 Project”university graduates, but the wage gap shows a clear convergence trend during their first job period. If the salary at the end of the first job is used as a measure of one’s true ability, the difference in initial salary for the second job will also significantly decrease. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the halo effect of prestigious universities is more prevalent in industries and departments where recruitment, promotion, and salary increases lack clear criteria and rely mainly on subjective judgments from employers. At the same time, the halo effect of prestigious universities on the initial salary of the first job is more significant among the group of“985 Project”college students with higher educational quality. The research results indicate that the phenomenon of prestigious universities still exists widely in the labor market, but with the accumulation of work experience, the signal transmission function of“211 Project”universities will be weakened. Therefore, establishing standardized recruitment procedures and improving employee information disclosure systems may help alleviate the phenomenon of prestigious universities in the job market.

Key words: halo of prestigious schools, employer learning, signaling effect, university selection