" a little too strict" -- I'm trying to be more concise, but my precision hasn't caught up yet.

First, my point was that people don't succeed simply on network entry. I hope this is understood but I don't see it much reflected in the comments.

Second, the point of networks is to reduce the guesswork. The network knows if Joe carried his college workgroups but sucked at tests, or if he aces tests but flakes out. It knows how his sense of commitments and responsibilities matches up against network norms. A lot of people "in the Harvard network" have been _rejected_ by that network b/c it knows them and doesn't like what it sees.