[GirlySports]

It's the whole system of 'breaking ties'. The more competition there is for anything, sports, schooling, jobs, etc... the more 'tiebreakers' there needs to be to separate people. That can be experience, certificates, extra-curriculars or money. Again I use my CPA example. A B.Comm used to be something. Now that's entry level and the next tiebreaker is CPA. Soon there will be too many CPA and the next tiebreaker will be CPA + CFA, or another degree. I have a colleague, early 30s, who is considering an engineering degree to supplement her CPA. I'm lucky that I'm in my 40s and not 30s and got in the door first. But I'll probably get beat out in my next promotion because I'm not advancing enough.