Migration assistant does not find external HD hosting Time Machine

I have a brand new 15" retina Macbook Pro, provided for me at my new job (lucky me!). Until now, I have been using a mid-2010 model 13" standard Macbook, running Snow Leapord (10.6.x). I have been making backups using Time Machine for years. What I would like to do, is migrate a Time Machine backup to my new machine, as if nothing had changed except for the hardware. Of course, this is what Setup Assistant is designed to do. But, there is a snag.
The IT dept. at my new employement have set up accounts on the machine already, meaning Setup Assistant cannot be used. I must use Migration Assistant. When I run Migration Assistant (through spotlight, if it matters) and follow the instructions, with my external HD containing my Time Machine backups already plugged in, the Migration Assistant cannot find the external HD. It only finds the local Macintosh HD.
I have read many, many pages of this forum. Nothing appears to directly handle this issue AND have an accepted answer that actually answers this question. Please forgive repetition if you disagree!
One potential solution is to ensure the backups contain EVERYTHING on my existing machine. Previously there were one or two folders of data that I excluded because I made a separate backup of these (they are on the order 10-100 GB, and I don't want them on the Time Machine backups). However, I am in the process of generating a new TM backup that includes these folders, just in case it is a fix. I have tried pretty much everything else I could think of or stumbled across in these fora.
Big thanks in advance for any assistance. +2 Karma for a direct solution, +1 Karma for an answer that indirectly leads to a solution. Happy Karma hunting.

In the sidebar of a Finder window, select the icon representing your startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) At the top level of the volume are folders with these names, among others:
Applications
Library
System
Enter Time Machine and select the most recent snapshot, which is behind the frontmost window. Are those folders present in the snapshot?

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