REUTERS/Brian Snyder Students cheer at the Harvard Business School graduation ceremony Harvard is one of the most prestigious universities in the world. The Cambridge, Massachusetts school accepted just 5.9% of roughly 34,000 applications for its class of 2018. As Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust recently said, "We could fill our class twice over with valedictorians." The school seeks out students who not only have high grades, but also have outstanding achievements under their belts — from overcoming homelessness to starting their own nonprofits. The students who manage to catch the attention of admissions officers overcome exceptional odds, but they should maintain some perspective. Many things in life — like landing a job at some Wal-Mart locations — are harder to achieve than getting into that prestigious university. A Job At Some Wal-Mart Locations Met with both merriment and protest, Wal-Mart came to Washington, D.C. at the end of 2013. The store received more than 23,000 applications but only hired 600 associates, NBC Washington reported. That's a 2.6% acceptance rate — almost half as selective as Harvard. While many Harvard graduates can expect a 6-figure income, Wal-Mart employees pocket an average of $11.83 an hour or nearly $25,000 annually,,according to the company. The Top 50 Posts On A Friend's Newsfeed When Facebook compiles your Newsfeed, it chooses from roughly 1,500 different posts. The company uses an algorithm based on the popularity and relevance of posts, along with other factors, to decide what goes where. The chances of a certain post finding its way into the top 50 stories on someone's Newsfeed is about 3.3%. If you want to boost your chances, posts with photos do far better than links or text-based posts. The American Dream A recent report from researchers at Harvard and Berkeley Universities shows that in many major US cities, it's very hard to achieve a rags-to-riches success story. The report analyzes the number of people who were born into the lowest income quintile but ended up in the highest income quintile. The results don't bode well for upward socioeconomic mobility. The chances were below 5% in Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; Columbus, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Indianapolis, Indiana. Even at the top of the list, people in San Jose, California showed just a 12.9% chance of living the American dream. A Job At Goldman Sachs In 2013, Goldman Sachs receieved more than 43,000 applications for 1,900 analyst positions, making the company hiring rate about 4.4%. It's no surprise so many people want to work there, as Fortune magazine named Goldman one of the 100 best places to work in 2014. Since the ranking began in 1984, Goldman is one of just five companies that made the list every year. According to Glassdoor, the average analyst there makes about $63,000 a year. The Secret Service Protecting the president of the United States isn't a job for any run-of-the-mill bodyguard or security detail. The full responsibilities of the Secret Service are well, secret, but agents remain with the president and his family 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Other important government officials, such as the vice presidents and their families, also receive protection, usually even after they leave their positions. For these reasons, the Secret Service accepted less than 1% of their 15,600 special agent applications in 2011, Bloomberg reported. A Bootcamp For Data Scientists Foursquare's Michael Li began work on another startup in 2014: The Data Incubator. It's essentially a boot camp for data scientists. While many programming PhDs have solid research skills, few can meet the pace of a startup. They need training. Li hasn't picked the first class of attendees from a batch of more than 1,000 applicants, representing more than 80 universities. But he told VentureBeat, "We cannot accept 5.8%," referring to Harvard's rate. "It's just not possible." Some Prestigious New York City Public High Schools Some of New York's most in-demand public high schools are actually harder to get into than Harvard, as Brooklyn Magazine has noted. For their September 2014 admission, 16,675 students listed the Brooklyn Latin School as a choice on their application, according to the New York City Department of Education. However, fewer than 3% were accepted. Meanwhile, the High School of American Studies in the Bronx has an acceptance rate of around 1% as does the Queens High School for the Sciences at York College. Getting into a good school in the city of New York is particularly important. While the citywide four-year graduation rate is roughly 65%, results differ wildly between public high schools. Concord High School in Staten Island had a four-year graduation rate of less than 20% in 2013, according to data published by the local radio station WNYC. Meanwhile, the Green Dot Charter School in the Bronx had a four-year graduation rate of nearly 99%. A Job At McDonald's (Sometimes) McDonald's hasn't gone on a national hiring spree this year, but at one point, it was more difficult to land a job there than a spot at Harvard. In 2011, McDonald's held a gigantic job fair. It advertised 50,000 jobs and ended up hiring 24% more than that — 62,000. One million people applied for positions, which made the odds of getting hired 6.2%. While Harvard has gotten even more selective, the school accepted about 7% of applicants in 2011. A Hands-On Experience With An iPhone 6 (Before Sept. 19) On Tuesday Apple announced the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch at the Flint Center in Cupertino, California. Attendees were then invited to an early hands-on session with the devices across the road in a specially built showroom. Apple has already sold 4 million units of the iPhone 6 in pre-orders, while the Flint Center only had a capacity of 2,500. Comparing the number of people who want an iPhone 6 with the number who got their hands on one that day, you had less than a 0.1% chance of being in the room. You can, however, live vicariously through our tech reporter, Steve Kovach. A Job At The Apple Store In 2009, Apple's much-anticipated Upper West Side store opened its doors, Gizmodo reported at the time. Out of 10,000 applications, only about 200 people got jobs: a 2% acceptance rate. Harvard may be known for producing geniuses, but Apple's "Genius Bar" is much more selective. A Green Card Up to 15 million people apply to the U.S. Green Card lottery every year, all hoping for a chance at a life in America, the Wall Street Journal has reported. But only about 50,000 green cards are available. The odds of obtaining a Green Card (known officially a Diversity Visa) vary depending on the applicant's region. If you're not from Australia, New Zealand, or a Pacific island, however, the odds aren't good. Fewer than 2% of applicants around the world end up getting a visa. The rate is about 6% in Oceania (because of fewer applications and relatively higher quotas). The Indian Institute Of Management While Harvard lets in about 5.9% of applicants, not even 1% get accepted to India's top business school, BloombergBusinessweek reported last year. The Indian Institute of Management in Ahmadabad (IIM-A) received 173,866 for its 2012-2014 class. The university has the luxury of being extra choosy because of India's large population and the vast number of students with outstanding grades and test scores. Delta's Flight Attendant Corps You have less than a 1% chance becoming a Delta Flight Attendant, according to Bloomberg, In 2010 Delta, the world's second largest air carrier, received 100,000 applications for 1,000 jobs. In 2013, it received 44,000 applications for 400 jobs. Foreign language skills are highly valued by the company, with as many as 30% of hires speaking a second language. The Ranks Of Successful Startups Y Combinator is an exclusive startup program — sort of a startup school — founded by Paul Graham. Despite being extraordinarily picky and only accepting 3-5% of applicants, Y Combinator only considers 10% of its "graduate" startups successful after a few years. By putting those two statistics together, Business Insider's own Henry Blodget estimates the success rate of startup companies could be as low as 0.4%. It's safe to say the smartest entrepreneurs are those with a backup plan. A Job At Google After leaving Microsoft in 2009, Don Dodge became a Developer Advocate for Google. Within a year, he posted a lengthy explanation of the hiring process there on his personal blog, hinting at the company's level of exclusivity, The Next Web reported. In his words, Google receives about one million applications every year — but only hires 1,000 to 4,000 people. Best case scenario, that means only .4% of hopefuls land a job at Google. They go through recruiter screening, two or three phone interviews, and then four or five in-person ones on site, not to mention jumping through other professional hoops. It's safe to say Harvard doesn't screen nearly as thoroughly. Harvard may not be your top-choice, though. Click here to see the 50 best colleges in America » Read more stories on Business Insider, Malaysian edition of the world's fastest-growing business and technology news website.
