With 250+ applications per job, does your company carry the prestige of Rolls Royce? Everything you are saying affirms the point OP is making.

No, though that company was a small company owned by a big corporate and working in renewables so somewhat interesting.

I’m not sure it does - I was last hiring two years ago. What I am saying is that this is nothing new.

how many new positions did they open annually?

20000 / 250 would be only 80 positions a year; doesn't seem like a lot for a company like RR

If they opened 200 new positions a year, that's only 100 applications per position

Sure, but not all applications are equal right? If you get so many applications, you can basically cream off the top % for your grad scheme, even after accounting for the fact that you won't have every student accept a new grad offer.