I absolutely agree with this, and it is my main motivation TBH. I know I’m capable of learning almost anything in my field by hands on experience, but having the advanced degree from a strong institution will help on the rat race. At the end of the day I’m competing with equally capable peers that have a degree from a good school.
For rat raceing the pyramid it is still a differentiator at executive level.
Nobody wants to be held accountable, if projects go south, for having promoted to a leadership position a self taught engineer.
It's really about politics and accountability more than anything.