It's Easier To Get Into Harvard Than To Get A Job At These Walmarts

You think your Harvard acceptance letter is impressive? Snag a job at Walmart and then we'll talk.

More than 23,000 people are vying for only 600 job openings at the retail giant's two new stores in Washington, D.C., according to a Walmart spokesperson. In other words, only 2.61 percent of hopefuls will land a gig.

That's a smaller likelihood of acceptance than at Harvard, the country's second-most exclusive school, where only 5.79 percent of applicants were offered a spot this year. Even Stanford, the most exclusive school in the country, accepted a higher percentage of students in 2013 -- 5.69 percent -- than Walmart will for its D.C. stores.

The trend is the same at the D.C. area's top-ranked school, Georgetown University, where more than 16 percent of applicants get an offer. And Walmart CEO Mike Duke's alma mater, Georgia Tech, accepts more than 41 percent of students that apply -- many times more than the D.C.-area Walmart stores will.

The reason for the high number of applicants at Walmart is likely tied to the area's unemployment rate of 8.7 percent, a percentage far above the national average. Such a high number of job seekers means there is more intense competition for jobs of any sort, which in turn pushes down the wage people are willing to take.

The D.C. stores almost never opened. Walmart threatened to pull out of the area if the mayor approved a proposed living wage bill that would have required the retail giant to pay its workers $12.50 per hour, and now that threat is paying off.

Check out how getting a job at the D.C.-area Walmarts compares to getting into some of the country's top schools:

(h/t NBC Washington)