Fadule says it is not a matter of the department that determines admission, but the focus and drive with which applicants pursued their field and how it factors into their future plans.

McKinsey and the Peace Corps

Work experience that showcases leadership ability is more important than any particular position.

While 46 students hail from McKinsey & Co. alone, and there are sizable contingents from Goldman Sachs, Bain, Andersen and Morgan Stanley, the admissions office insists there is no required pedigree.

"Perhaps half the entering HBS class comes from banking or consulting. That means that the other half has 'untraditional' backgrounds--whether [that is] technology, social service, or manufacturing," Marks says.

"You need to show on your application that you're a superstar, and it's tough to be a superstar on Wall Street."

Being president of a company is not enough. The admissions committee wants to know what kind of president.

"We care more about who you are than what you are," Fadule says. "The Peace Corps, investment banking--as long as you're choosing it for the right reasons."

But whether an applicant hits Wall Street and spends two years working 100-hour weeks, runs a company or takes a tour of duty in the Armed Forces, the near-universal consensus is that time-off is almost mandatory to apply successfully to B-School.

"Harvard recognizes leadership, management and accomplishment," says Alton D. Delane, who spent six years in the Navy before joining the HBS class of 1999.

Applying right after college "is not really an option," McCullough says.

The average time between undergraduate schooling and business school is around four years, the median age in the class of 2000 is 26 but for every rule there is an exception.

Marks, for example, ran a computer dealership as an undergraduate and spent much of his time "on the road, visiting clients, working with computer manufacturers and organizing contractors."

Marks, who entered HBS as a 20-year-old and was dubbed his section's "baby," discovered during college he "didn't have the management skills to grow [his] company. I knew I needed an MBA, and quickly, to get the financial and operational skills necessary to advance my career."

He applied only to HBS and never looked back.