Let me give you a hint, look for big fish in a small pond. Seriously, there is so much unappreciated talent out there simply because a person has graduated from a university that is less than top-ten, or even, way lower. There are people out there who are smart who haven't traveled the tradition route to get there who are ignored and even ostracized just because they aren't from a top ten school.

There seems to be a binary relation to hiring. Either you graduated from a top-ten school or you dropped out. There are plenty of disadvantaged people who couldn't get into those top-ten schools for various reasons but are the big fish in their small pond who you may want to look towards.