MIT pushes their students HARD, but they're not Ivy League

They are not tEcHniCalLy Ivy league because they didn't have a football team in the NCAA athletic conference when the term was coined, but they are clearly exactly what we mean today when we talk about prestigious east coast old money schools.Their business school is rated higher than Yale and Columbia.

For any of these the gatekeeping is immense. Schools like Harvard and MIT reject something like 95% of applicants, and those applicants are all qualified to study there.

It's less of an issue of being able to keep up with the education, and more of an issue of playing the game right from the ground up. Someone with an MBA from Stanford, Harvard or MIT clearly knows how to play the games and win every time. They will do well in any scenario because they understand to watch all the angles, work all the relationships, etc. So yes, I'd expect them to be good consultants no matter what.

And also, the education standards at Harvard, Stanford, MIT, etc, are exacting. Nobody gets through all of that without getting really smart, at both the subject matter and clearing the expectations bars.

I've taken MIT graduate level tests through their MicroMasters program. I don't wish that brutality on any student. Anyone that can ace an MIT graduate test is a freaking genius in my book.