Standardized interviews or panels do not necessarily exist to find the best candidate. They exist as a tradeoff to ensure some measure of objectivity and prevent favoritism/influence/corruption/bribery/forgery/impersonation/unfair cheating by getting advance access to the test material; in such a way that this can then be verified, standardized, audited at higher levels or nationally. Even more important for medschool/nursing than engineering.

One of countless examples was the sale of 7600 fake nursing transcripts and diplomas in 2020/1 by three south Florida nursing schools [0]. (This happened in the middle of Covid, and at schools which were already being deaccredited.)

Buyers paid $10-15K to obtain fake diplomas and transcripts indicating that they had earned legitimate degrees, like a (two-year) associate degree in nursing; these credentials then allowed the buyers to qualify for the national nursing board exam (NCLEX). About 37% of those who bought the fake documents — or about 2,800 people — passed the exam. (Compare to candidates holding a bachelor's degree in nursing (BSN) reportedly typically pass at 90% compared to 84% for those with an associate degree in nursing (ADN)).

Among that 2700, a “significant number” then received nursing licenses and secured jobs in unnamed hospitals and other health care settings in MD, NY, NJ, GA.

[0]: "7,600 Fake Nursing Diplomas Were Sold in Scheme, U.S. Says" https://web.archive.org/web/20230928151334/https://www.nytim...

I meant more that a massive part of the experience is hazing used to filter for less obvious criteria, but that is also good info!

Right, sure. But I was saying it isn't by any means only the candidates that we want to guard against misconduct or lack of objectivity, or their schools, but the interviewers/panelists/graders/regulators themselves.

Hazing is just an unfortunately necessary side-effect of this.