Why so much pressure?

Hi 555, welcome to the board. You've asked a question which I certainly don't have an answer to, and maybe no one really does.

You also make a good point about the overemphasis on statistics, etc. that you see. I think you'll find it less prevalent in this forum than others, but it's there nonetheless. Maybe I'd attribute it to our collective desire to relate to each other. Since we don't know each other's personal stories, sometimes it's easier to introduce ourselves by a GMAT score. But if you dig a bit, I think you'll find that everyone on the board has a very personal reason that they're getting their MBA, which they will sometimes even share with us. It seems to me that those who do the "best" are simply the ones who are best able to convey their reasoning through a variety of methods - essays, work path, and interviews. And that's a very subjective criterion, so we always go back to talking about what we can easily measure.

I'm also not entirely convinced that we do put too much pressure on ourselves, or place too much importance on what others may think. It's easy to draw that stereotype, but I think when you dig deep into the profiles of MBAs, the initial calling to the MBA was more often than not a noble one.