During my time at CBS, it was common to hear the unpopular students criticize their popular peers for being cliquey, shallow, fake, and superficial. They often predicted that these friend groups wouldn't last beyond graduation.

However, unlike many other top MBA programs, a significant number of our classmates stayed in the same geographical area upon graduation (NYC). Only Haas seems like a similar school in this regard. As a result, MBA cliques and social dynamics persisted into the real world.

Many of the "cool" friend groups formed during the MBA have remained close-knit, continuing to do everything together and rarely integrating non-MBA people into their circles. These groups have formed genuine, lifelong friendships. They get constantly invited to weddings, birthday parties, house warmings, baby showers, overnight trips, social events, and so forth, despite being in their mid 30s.

The harsh reality is that there's no downside to being conventionally attractive, learning mainstream social skills, working out, staying fit, having good fashion sense, being a good conversationalist, and being into sports. The individuals who embodied these traits during the MBA have not only maintained quality friendships but also succeeded in their jobs in management consulting, investment banking, and even PM/PMM in big tech due to having good soft skills.

On the other hand, the unpopular students during my MBA were often socially awkward and peculiar. This has translated into their professional lives, where they tend to correlate with a lower quality of social interaction. They are often seen as less chill, less fun, less cool, having unusual interests, being socially awkward, and not as successful in soft skill-centric business environments.

The reality is clear: social skills and conventional attractiveness significantly impact both personal and professional success.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5539254&forum_id=2#47735872)

I thought everyone understood that innately at an early age.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5539254&forum_id=2#47735874)

“This was written like an alien that just landed on earth a week ago and sharing their observations.”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5539254&forum_id=2#47736033)