Why is Wall Street so addicted to elite colleges?

I used to run recruiting (in addition to my day job) for a global consulting house.  We recruited at 20 schools but preferred to hire from the top 5 or 6.  The big reasons?  First there were proportionately more good candidates at the best schools so screening efforts were lower.  Second the best schools had the older, more polished candidates.  One of the biggest drivers of 'B School Excellence' is the average number of years of experience the entering students had - at HBS it's really high.  This tends to be an attractive trait for those who are spending a lot of money on talent and who are exposing that talent to high level client executives early on.

The snobbery is very precise: you have to go to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford and, perhaps, Wharton. And the reason for this is not the belief that these schools provide the best education—in fact, many of those evaluating job candidates were critical of the education offered by these schools. Rather, it seems that the elite firms are simply using getting into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Standford and Wharton as a proxy for intelligence.

All in all, the study makes sense from my point of view.   And the fundamental critique:  why trust college admissions offices to make your decisions for you also makes sense.  This is just an easy, low risk way to find bright, hard working talent that won't embarrass you.  But it's not particularly egalitarian in its conception.

Hat tip instapundit