This piece and the original Ezra Klein interview it cites are spot on. As a senior at Harvard College, its almost assumed that you’ll participate in an on-campus recruiting process dominated by investment banks and management consulting firms. The application processes are incredibly streamlined and these firms benefit from last year’s grads coming back to complete the sell job.

The one auspicious point I’d add to Kwak’s analysis, is that I think it *is* possible for other firms to create similarly compelling recruiting schemes. Teach for America comes to mind as a “save the world” destination that a ton of elite college grads end up pursuing. They’ve pretty much nailed the same on-campus recruiting model of McKinsey/Goldman.