Linkbait article aside, in the actual paper[0] Lauren does not name the firms, and draws these conclusions based on 120 verbal interviews. Not exactly scientific, even for sociology. To be fair, her abstract isn't as hyperbolic as the above article (albeit obvious).

>> Employers sought candidates who were not only competent but also culturally similar to themselves in terms of leisure pursuits, experiences, and self-presentation styles. Concerns about shared culture were highly salient to employers and often outweighed concerns about absolute productivity.

No way! An interviewee from MIT (...heavily math/science/engineering bias) has a harder time getting an elite professional services gig? Next I'll find out NASA prefers MIT grads to Harvard. People hire/like people like themselves.

Deciding on Harvard over MIT (or vice versa) is both an education and cultural choice. That cultural matters is no surprise. And neither is that people hire with similar backgrounds to themselves.

And, not for nothing, guess where Lauren went? [1]

[0] : http://www.asanet.org/journals/ASR/Dec12ASRFeature.pdf

[1] : http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/directory/rivera...