Okay, I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you're new or that you're just unfortunately misinformed.
Yeah absolutely. If you look at where top consulting firms recruit from, you'll see it's generally only at selective colleges. As in, they go to campuses of highly competitive schools and court students from there. Same with investment banking firms. Same with computer science firms (but to a less extent than the others mentioned).
If you are looking for literature, here is an article by Karen Ho, a cultural anthropologist, on the culture of Wall Street. (
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/stor...y4&s=41c13e752c69e793488c99308aa36f0c554a3fa9)
If you don't have access to it for whatever reason, one of the takeaways is that Wall Street maintains its presence of in-group and prestige by recruiting almost exclusively from elite colleges. Here's a quote:
" 'We are a Princeton family. I met my wife here. Princeton students make the best analysts, which is why we recruit heavily here.” The other speakers introduced themselves by referring to the schools that they had attended: Harvard, Williams, Harvard, Princeton, Wharton, Princeton, Princeton, Princeton; then the South Asian woman said, “I’m from the University of Chicago; I’m not quite as bright as everyone else.' "
Another:
"First, investment bankers begin by addressing “the Princeton family” to establish a connection with the audience and to delineate an elite selectivity— just as not everyone can be a student at Princeton, investment banking is not a profession in which all can participate. From there, bankers move on to talk about “smartness” to establish collective meritocracy as the organizational rationale for investment banking elitism. "
I think you get the point. Or at least, I hope so.
No one is arguing this.
https://www.aamc.org/students/download/267622/data/mcatstudentselectionguide.pdf#page=12
Page 7: for private schools (which most top schools are, other than schools like Michigan, UCLA, and UCSF), selectivity of undergraduate institution is rated "highest importance". What else is rated highest importance? cGPA, MCAT, sGPA, and postbac performance.
This is A reason. Not the only reason.
The point this was addressing was refuted, so I don't really know what else to say here.
"Our acceptance rates at top medical schools are above the national averages, and the number of Princeton students attending top schools has not changed since the institution of the grading policy. Between 35% and 40% of students who matriculated to medical school in the past four years is attending a top 10 US News & World Report research school. "
http://www.princeton.edu/hpa/premed/prospective-students/2013-HPA-Frequently-Asked-Questions.pdf - bottom of page 2
It's a combination of both. Top schools like to inbreed, so they like to take students from other top schools. Does this mean you can't get into Harvard from random state U? It means no such thing. It just means that it's easier to get into a top school (or more top schools) if you excel at Harvard vs. excelling at random state U.
@efle anything to add?