Does the school you attend make a significant difference (or a difference at all) in the recruitment process? Which major is less of a desk job?

When I look at resumes, the school that he or she attended has very little difference in how the resume is perceived. Like I barely notice beyond whether it's one that I know someone from or if it's in a town I've been to.  I tend to be more concerned about what kind of courses or skill-sets are highlighted on the application -- did you learn CAD software or computer programming languages, or had a huge project that went on to great things, what hands-on experience (since you sound like you don't want a desk job) have you already done?  So I would focus more on the quality of the courses and what you are going to get out of the school as opposed to the name of the school itself.  BTW, I have some engineering friends who went to University of Pittsburgh ;)

As for the major, I don't think there is a clear trend associating one or the other with more desk jobs.   I know people from those backgrounds and the the variety of the jobs that can be done with those degrees is quite wide. And even a heavily hands-on job will likely entail some desk work. For example. I work in a lab and still spend a HUGE amount of time in meetings and at my desk writing reports or putting together presentations. That being said, if you are wanting to work with human interactions, that to me sounds more like BioMech Eng.