Does it sometimes seem like Wall Street hiring has no rules?

So a lotta people, even progressive people, at the top schools go after coveted jobs and internships in finance. But one thing I've noticed is it seems the banks have different rules for different people. To me, that looks more like "no rules." If you're an athlete, you can get away with majoring in art history or even go to a lesser ranked school, with the excuse "he works with people, fast learner" etc. Or if you come from Harvard, you can major in epistomology with a 2.0 and beat out a 4.0 finance major from Whatever State University. Many of their job postings have vague crap like "self-starter, quantitative ability" but don't list the specific actual skills you need. Other postings allow "finance, accounting, STEM" majors, which leaves the hypothetical door wide open. Or "networking," whatever that means, unless its just a dressed up term to be related and friends with the right kids in high school and college. The fact that quantitative ability is only asked of some people, and not all, now strikes me as to why 2008 in part happened. In Asia, Latin America, and Europe, you need 3 semesters of calc in school. In the US, you can get in with no calculus whatsoever, or even statistics in college. Not to mention the attitude of rules kind of being there but only sometimes.

Have you, or anyone you've known tried to get a job in that industry?