The Key To Success: Being Ultra Rich

Browsing around Poets & Quants today I found an old interesting article about HBS's super elite; in this case, the author focuses on Mikey Hess, grandson of the founder of Hess Corporation. Wealth disparity in elite schools is nothing new or profound-- of course you'll always have the poor kids from nowhere who struggled to get in, versus the children of presidents and CEOs who seemingly waltzed into the university on a whim and were greeted with open arms.

However, this quote by Stanford professor Jeffrey Pffefer, made me think:

“Not all students have equal ability to compete when it comes to participating in and throwing lavish parties…Business school has become way more about the parties than about the course work, which has left poorer students at a social—and professional—disadvantage.”

Everyone here acknowledges that b-school is basically a time to relax and party with other hard-working, type-A, future business leaders, with a little bit of work on the side. But to those people who don't have access to six- and seven-figure bank accounts, are they truly at a large disadvantage? If you can't afford to island-hop on a long weekend, is that extensive and high-powered network greatly diminished? Or is that something that can be made up for with an awesome personality.

Alternatively, this is all nonsense in the vein of Gossip Girl, and just being a cool / intelligent person will allow you to fully utilize your time surrounded by uber-rich people. Thoughts?