<p>It is far too easy at the early stage of a career for an elite grad to go make 200k to 500k in consulting, investment banking, or the learned professions( law or a medical specialty) than it would be to enter a large corporation and work his way up through a large bureaucracy. Ironically, the great opportunities and choices the elite have early on in their careers, keep many from reaching the CEO position since a large portion of the elite are routed away from the corporate ladder early on. You don’t see many Ivy Leaguers in corporate training programs but you do see them en masse in investment banks, consulting firms, law and medical schools.</p>
<p>The elite college guy would not fit into a corporation seeking to train its future district sales managers and controllers (and Later CEOs) and the elite guy would actually have a hard time of it, since his peers would perceive him as having options everyone else doesn’t have, leading boses to question commitment and peers to question loyalty to the career path and the firm.</p>