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http://www.delish.com/food/recalls-reviews/more-selective-than-harvard-chinas-hamburger-university

When you think of the world's most exclusive universities, what comes to mind? Harvard? Yale? Oxford? Well, it's time to add another to the list - Hamburger University, McDonald's Chinese training center based outside of Shanghai. And when it comes to selective admission, the old Cantabs have got nothing on Hamburger U.

Bloomberg reports that in China management-track jobs at the Golden Arches (a prerequisite to attend the school) are incredibly competitive. The article sites the example of Zhou Xiaobu, who in 2007 was one of 1,000 applicants vying for eight management trainee positions in Changsha, a city in Hunan Province - that's an acceptance rate of less than 1 percent, lower than Harvard's 2010 record low 7 percent admissions rate. And to attend a five-day course at Hamburger University, Zhou had to compete again, this time against 43 other applicants at her store. "I'm thrilled and proud to attend Hamburger University," said Zhou, whose 10,000 yuan ($1518) tuition was paid for by the chain.

Read about the history of some of America's favorite fast food chains.

So why the fierce competition to attend the fast food academy? In July of last year, the Chinese Ministry of Education reported that 26 percent of the nation's college graduates were unemployed. With such a job market, the McDonald's program "offers many career opportunities," Sun Ying, a graduate of East China Normal University and a recently promoted store manager told Bloomberg.

And with McDonald's seeking to double its presence in China to 2000 stores by 2013, the number of Mickey Ds jobs is set to increase substantially. "China has been the fastest growing market for McDonald's worldwide with regard to new restaurant opening," its China chief executive Kenneth Chan told Reuters in December. "It took us almost 19 years to reach 1,000 restaurants. We will get our next 1,000 restaurants within three years."

For now though, McDonalds faces stiff competition from a fierce rival - in China KFC, which supplements its American menu with Chinese dishes like congee and spicy tofu chicken rice, is the hands-down favorite, with 3200 stores around the nation.