<p>At the very end of your post, I think you hit upon the core of the issue - that the potential that you can demonstrate to a B-school is endogenous to the job you have. Let’s face it. Some jobs give you more opportunities than others, and do it faster. By working for 2 years at an investment bank or consulting firm, you get exposed to a wide range of business issues and have ample opportunities to demonstrate business ability - probably as much as you would get in 4 years of working at a regular job (but of course you’re also working about twice as hard in IB or consulting). Ultimately, that’s why B-schools (and future employers) value prior consulting/IB experience so much, because you do get that exposure and seasoning. If you’re a programmer at Microsoft, you could have very easily spent your whole career doing nothing more than programming, and thus have no opportunities to demonstrate broader business knowledge.</p>