Ego abounds everywhere. However, your point about applicant volume motivating the setting of a high bar for entry is spot on. This is happening throughout the

Ego abounds everywhere. However, your point about applicant volume motivating the setting of a high bar for entry is spot on. This is happening throughout the corporate world. Too many candidates for too few high-paying and elite positions. My girlfriend works in finance and recently interviewed for a post-MBA position at (arguably) the top company for the work she does. She talked with other candidates, and discovered it was not uncommon to pay thousands of dollars on interview preparation (books, coaching sessions, etc.), and to spend, say, over 100 hours prepping in total... for interviews with a single firm... which you weren't even certain you'd be interviewing with. This trend is only accelerating. The less pessimistic stance is to just say this is a consequence of greater specialization. The less optimistic stance is to say we are seeing professionalization for the sake of professionalization. I'm not optimistic.