"You are not getting into HBS or Wharton from the local bakery or real estate office"

Graduate School Business School - MBA
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<p>*...“School and job pedigree count more than schools would like to publicize because the mythology of admissions is that everyone starts equal, and schools are open to all comers,” says Sanford Kreisberg, an MBA admissions consultant. “But schools are not equally open to all comers, and job pedigree especially can be critical, even more so than schooling. You are not getting into Harvard Business School or Wharton from the local bakery or real estate office.”</p>

<p>This is not the bargain most applicants think they’re signing up for. Most sweat through the GMATs and the essays in the belief that their academic achievement, job accomplishments, and overall character are going to be thoroughly and fairly assessed. The idea that they might be excluded or at least severely penalized before they even fill out the application is not supposed to be part of the deal. At its worst extreme, rampant credentialism could spell a return to a variant of the old boys club, where outsiders, regardless of merit, tend to get excluded.</p>

<p>...It has been said that the dirty little secret of a highly ranked business school is that it only accepts those who have already been successful and then takes credit for their success after they leave with the degree*</p>

<p>Getting</a> Into Wharton: Does College & Work Pedigree Trump Merit? | Poets and Quants</p>

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<p>The above is all but known; key phrases like ‘demonstrated leadership’ and 'history of successa are thinly-veiled references to ‘privileged’.</p>

<p>Most successful applicants to HBS (or Yale, etc) likely attended an Ivy Legue as an undergrad, were recruited by a prominent employer on campus, and are thus in an ideal position to gain acceptance at another Ivy League school. The path is well-paved.</p>

<p>Schools can claim to seek ‘diversity’, but implement this in their admissions only as much as is required to avoid accusations of discrimination/exclusivity.</p>