common, you are talking different centuries. People looked way closer at your time. Nowadays, there are now 2-3 times more people attending college. Observant people from Jewish schools work in many places already and either are a testimony or a facilitator for the younger ones.
My experience is similar to yours: I was a butt of (friendly) jokes in my first post-grad workplace – I was the first hire whose PhD was not from top three schools in the industry. Now, that firm routinely hires PhDs from my school, not sure whether I started the trend or, more likely, they lowered the standards. As for me, that was the only time when the school was looked at.