If you thought the only thing you needed to get by at Harvard Business School was to not be a woman, you were only partially right — it turns out you need to not be a woman and not be poor.

This week, the New York Times continues its "What's Wrong With H.B.S." series with a look at the school's innate class system, where “the difference between a good experience and a great experience is only $20,000.”

According to students, the $56,175 annual tuition is just the start; new students are expected to write $300 or $400 checks to their “sections" to participate in social events; spend hundreds of dollars to attend the winter ball, Holidazzle; drop thousands of dollars to participate in social events like ski trips; and, if you really want to roll with the big boys, possess enough funds to cover "weekend party trips to places like Iceland and Moscow" with the infamous Section X.

One female graduate told the Times she spent tens of thousands of dollars a year to keep up socially and never brought friends home because she felt embarrassed by her modest home.

And it helps to be from South America, the Middle East and Asia.

“More than once I heard that ‘the only middle-class students here are the Americans,'” a H.B.S. graduate told the Times.

[image via AP]