I think placements rates are just a way to game data. I'm imagining two schools, one that accepts everyone that applies, and one that filters the bottom half out before acceptance. After graduation, the first school has a 50% placement rate, and the second has a 100%. Which one is better?

Sure we can all pretend that "everyone can do it" but... everyone can't. Placement rates as a metric are just deciding when to filter the low performers out.