Okay. I mean, yes, I did, several times. Because if you're attending a b-school in a major City, as I was, this is a thing you're encouraged to do. If you're planning on going for Goldman Sachs, or Vanguard, or McKinsey, Deloitte, Booz Allen, etc etc., this is part of the "soft skills" program that you're supposed to be developing. It's utterly garden variety, and every year thousands--maybe tens of thousands--of grad students do the exact same thing. Just because you've not been party to it, doesn't make it exotic.

Maybe I wasn't invited to the "important or relevant" conversations; This is my point. Assuredly, because the bulk of the conversations aren't important or relevant.

I'm not sure why this is hard to get across, it comes back to the same premise: Just because someone at some point was recognized by these entities, does not make them an agent of these agencies. You should look to what else they've done and are doing. That YGL on the resume is nigh-meaningless: The most obvious actual meaning is that this person was at some point in the top 5% of their business class. I've got YGL on my Christmas card list, so I estimate that for every alumni ruling Russia or in the Senate, 99 are managing a small gas provider in upstate New York.

Okay. I mean, yes, I did, several times. Because if you're attending a b-school in a major City, as I was, this is a thing you're encouraged to do. If you're planning on going for Goldman Sachs, or Vanguard, or McKinsey, Deloitte, Booz Allen, etc etc., this is part of the "soft skills" program that you're supposed to be developing. It's utterly garden variety, and every year thousands--maybe tens of thousands--of grad students do the exact same thing. Just because you've not been party to it, doesn't make it exotic.

Maybe I wasn't invited to the "important or relevant" conversations; This is my point. Assuredly, because the bulk of the conversations aren't important or relevant.

I'm not sure why this is hard to get across, it comes back to the same premise: Just because someone at some point was recognized by these entities, does not make them an agent of these agencies. You should look to what else they've done and are doing. That YGL on the resume is nigh-meaningless: The most obvious actual meaning is that this person was at some point in the top 5% of their business class.