What do you guys think about Northeastern University?
I am currently attending Northeastern University in their International Business program with a concentration in Finance (just finished freshman year). I am hoping to get into investment banking upon graduation and I was wondering how hard/what kind of chance I had of getting into investment banking from Northeastern?
Any insight is greatly appreciated!
If you have an exceptional academic record + extra curriculars, try to transfer up if possible.
If you can't transfer, then start networking your ass off, look for internships (unpaid or paid) in finance. Private Wealth Managers are a great place to start. Check out your alumni network. Search LinkedIn for people who went to your school and then into banking, ask them for help. Just don't be annoying, look up cold-emailing on WSO and follow the guidelines of a gold star (certified user). I have no doubt there are Northeastern grads on WS. Also, finding a job in Boston will likely be easier than NYC.
After this next year is when you want to make the move if you have the stats to transfer. Make sure you get an internship after soph year though, it will help you a shitload. Also get active on campus if you aren't already.
and find the right forum
sorry, but if its not Little Three or Ivy League, or the top state schools (UMich AA, Texas-Austin, UCLA, UNC-CH or UCB), or Southern Ivies (think Emory, Rice, Vandy, Duke), even if you do study finance, you're in a very tough spot. I know from experience.
Shout out to little three! But OP Northeastern has been on the rise recently and there are definitely people that have done it. So know that it's possible, but with a lot of networking and solid EC's like D M said. Try transferring at the end of this year. If it doesn't work, then network and try to put yourself in a good position. Northeastern is a decent school either way.
I tried transferring to NYU and Wharton at the end of this year but did not get in, so it looks like I am stuck at Northeastern
Grow a pair and accept that you’re at a semi target for certain banks. Leverage the co-op program to position yourself for a penultimate senior year traditional FO internship at a BB by doing this:
GPA>3.5; leadership positions in finance groups (FIC, SVF. BAP, Huntington Consulting, IDEA, etc.). Do the standard BS and create a sexy-as-hell resume ASAP. Network ASAP as it becomes nigh impossible to interview, work (if you need to), do ECs, and maintain GPA come co-op time.
Systematically build a network of relationships with current co-ops in roles you desire (to circumvent the co-op dept + corporate HR screening), with faculty (for referalls), with alums (you’ll find several surprises here – make this a priority), with cold-calling (and other “regular” tactics), and by ****building a brand name at the co-op office***** so that you’re not co-op placement #142/304 for the fall term. This last point is crucial.
FOR FIRST CO-OP: Co-op at a brand name for first co-op (e.g. Goldman, Wellington, GE, a big 4) - likely in a back-office role. You may wish to do a typical PWM internship if you’re only a freshmen. Point is: NU is semi-non target. You’ll be doing shit work but it’ll be General Mills shit work, not store brand. This is the case for targets too as PWM isn’t exactly fun.
FOR SECOND (PREFERABLY FINAL) CO-OP: once you’re done, you’ll immediately start FT classes. Assuming that you’ve accomplished and consistently implemented the above, now is the time to acquire the premiere front-office and decent mid office co-ops (CS HOLT, UBS IB, GS [I recall trading and IBD], boutique IBD and ER, a bunch of trading positions, BAML public IBD, Hercules venture capital, and a few others – these are crucial for the final step of my long, meandering post, plus pay is ~$30-40/hr + lots of O/T for most, so get them)
FOREGO a third co-op and, via your second co-op at a BB in ER or IBD or Front Office Whatever Division and SECURE A TRADITIONAL SUMMAR ANALYST POSITION prior to senior year. Seen this done for CS ER+IBD, GS IBD and GIR, McKinsey (though it's in Dubai, I believe), Citi IBD, Oppenheimer IBD, a bunch of guys at MFS, Statestreet, etc. in ER/FIR-type roles, and obviously in various boutiques. This does a few things:
Secure a job from either the 2nd/3rd co-op or the SA internship or, if you’re unlucky, use your ~1.5 years of professional experience in FO roles at brand name firms making $60-80k per annum for each co-op prior to graduation to secure a positions. Either way, you should be set.
Hit the gym, shave (wet shave, double-edged safety razor), make a sandwich, and play NBA Jam.
I hope this was incredibly helpful. Life changing, preferably. I sacrificed time on that could have been better wasted addying (apologies, buzz word) up on this, resulting in xanxing (consultant buzz word, sorry) on an incredibly important report. Apologies, though, for the incoherent, excessive wordiness but that's just inescapable given the resources available. It's not indicative of poor communication skills - I received >750 on my SAT verbal (or writing, I forget). As for the formatting, well..
*formatted after
Wow, thank you for that lengthy but very helpful response. I appreciate that greatly! The points that you made will definitely help me in getting to my dream job from NU.
No problem.
Any NU students or similar prospective financiers should note that the takeaway I colorfully (and incoherently) conveyed is that HYP isn't the only route to the same destination. NU's co-op (and other co-ops/internships outside of NU) can offset academic brand name discrimination when correctly leveraged and in concert with all the other generic guidelines (network, maintain high GPA, etc.) we all know. Everything's negotiable in business - even for state school nobodies (no offense intended). There being a lot of truth re: school name doesn't mean that other, potentially more lucrative, alternatives can't be explored.
I just wanted to to provide contrast to the incredibly valuable insights into "how fucked you are" by not being an ivey at HYP (ex low-tier ivers like Brown, Cornell, etc. ), kindly provided by the prestige-obsessed pre-summer analysts (as if a SA stint is an inevitability) populating much of WSO.
And speaking to some of WSO's wannabe investment wankers: IBD is a dull, monotonous, painful ordeal at entry-level. Its prestige is localized to NYC and to our sub-culture outside of which it offers you no unique social status besides the $. Tell a chick at the gym that you're an investment banker in JP LazardiStan's M&A group and she'll think that you're some weird Middle Eastern bank teller making $15/hour and working 9-5. Analysts in IBD and IT guys in BO have fungible relative importance in the eyes of the "99%" and if the IT guy is senior, the relative status tilts in his favor through the eyes of your MD. So the money and exit ops are nice, though questionable (see M&I's articles). Just more reasons to pick ER over IBD is all I'm saying...
I heard recently that 6 people were hired by GS and 6 by UBS. I will be attending Northeastern this fall and heard this statistic from a current student who has had 2 Co-ops with UBS. Morgan Stanley also is involved with the Co-op program and they hired 10-15 analyst per cycle during 2006-2008. Also if you do some snooping around on Linked in you'll find a number of people that have interned/currently working for UBS, CS, and MS. There are a couple of GS too. Middle market firms are strong recruiters at Northeastern like MFS, State Street, Wellington and a couple more. These are great companies to work for and to build up your resume to eventually reach the BB's. Now to reach the BB's you need to Network and keep your GPA as high as possible (the current student I was talking about had above 3.9). Source for MS stat: http://www.northeastern.edu/coop/employers/employer-stories/morgan-stan…
Northeastern: Finance Co-Ops (Originally Posted: 06/28/2015)
What are the finance co-ops like at Northeastern?
I'm happy I can be the first to answer this one. I cannot speak highly enough of NU or the co-op program, especially for finance majors.
My background: NU alum, concentrated in finance and accounting. 1st co-op large Asset Management firm doing back office grunt work 2nd co-op Canadian investment bank working in capital markets (technically investment banking but not real investment banking as some on here might describe) 3rd co-op elected to do a 10 week summer analyst stint at a bulge bracket bank in LevFin (real banking). Figured out banking sucked and prestige wasnt worth doing something I hated so now in buyside equity research at well known asset management firm.
NU has strong connections in basically all areas of finance. Your first co-op will likely be doing a shitty back office role because you have no experience but with good grades and a good relationship with the co-op advisors you can move up the food chain. NU has co-ops at most bulge bracket banks with positions in trading, sales and research, capital markets, and IB as well as opportunities in corporate finance, vc and Asset Management. The top positions are competitive but you're only competing with NU so that gives you a leg up. Also, it is flexible so you can choose to do only 2 and a summer analyst role if you want.
I graduated with about a year and a half of experience and had no trouble getting a job while some of my friends at Ivies floundered around because they had little experience and couldn't decide what they wanted to do.
I am obviously biased but the program is so strong and getting stronger that I'd say unless you get into an ivy take NU above everything else and to be honest if I went to an ivy I may not have gotten the results I did. When I applied the business program was ranked something like 67th and now it's 19th and has the best co-op program hands down in the country.
Some strong statements here but I worked closely with the co-op advisors as head of the finance club and know the system inside and out. Feel free to PM me for anything else.
Thank you for your detailed feedback! I appreciate it. So did you find the co-op advisors helpful throughout your undergraduate career? Were there any particular co-op advisors who stuck out to you?
NU alum here, will post my thoughts later on, but for now, I think the above comment is accurate
From my experience the co-op advisors were helpful. You get assigned one who you will work with, but there is opportunity to meet the others. I honestly didn't use the co-op program as much as the typical student, being BSIB it was a little different.
Never added anything because its all pretty well covered by the prior comment, but i'm happy to answer any specific questions about NU via PM.
Advice For a Northeastern Freshman (Originally Posted: 06/27/2015)
I'm a rising freshman at Northeastern University. I was accepted to Emory and received a guaranteed transfer to Cornell, but could only afford to go to NEU because of the scholarship they gave me. I'm thinking about pursuing something in finance, perhaps investment banking, but is it near impossible now because Northeastern is a non target school for a lot of firms? It's not like I can transfer to a target school later on either because I'm not eligible for financial aid and could not afford it. What are the best steps to making sure that I can break into investment banking right out of undergrad? Also, what is NEU particularly strong in in terms of financial co-ops and recruiting?
Don't worry about it right now. Have fun your freshman year and make good grades. Start reaching out to alumni, contacts, etc. in the industry just to talk about IB and start a relationship like sophomore year once you've actually taken a finance class.
just do the guaranteed transfer...unless the loan size is over ~60k when you graduate..
there are lots of opportunities that you will not realize in NEU until you go to a top school. pedigrees unfortunately matter.
Email some people who are Cornell alums who are in industry. Ask them what they think about transferring... you might get an internship out of it.
I did half my undergrad at NU. If you want to get into big 4 accounting it is a great program. I also know people who went to Fidelity, Schwab, Morgan Stanley, State St, BNY Mellon, Eaton Vance, Liberty Mutual, BofA , etc but not in an equity research or IB role. You will not land at a bulge bracket or boutique IB from there unless you have some pretty insane family connections. You will almost definitely not land a front office finance job at an ultra elite firm, but middle office/back office might be possible if you are extraordinary.
Have you done your research on investment banking or do you just know that it pays a lot of money? If this is really your goal than xferring to an ivy will be a HUGE upside for you, and if you land at a bb or boutique IB than the salary differential your first year or two out of school will probably wipe out the difference in loans. Plus, you'll have a much better shot at a top tier MBA if that is a long term goal, and a better shot of transferring to HF/PE/AM from IB if that turns into your goal.
I'm swinging from a non-target undergrad and will say it can be done but it is a huge disadvantage. I regret not living up to my potential in my early years. If you are going into finance an ivy league education will make everything after that much easier. You'll still have to excel and impress but the door will always be cracked open to you. Coming from NU many doors will be barred shut. In addition you don't have to be the most impressive person at Cornell to land a solid job post undergrad. At NU, you're probably going to have to be one of the most impressive students to land a BB IB role.
That being said, Northeastern is by and large a pretty good school. If IB is just a pipe dream and your aspirations are more modest than enjoy your time there.
Also - go Huskies!
other alternative... rush through NE, then do a 1year M Fin. MIT, CMC, Princeton, etc. are all decent. Do your own research. Work experience, test scores and other requirements as well as exit ops all vary.
I hate the ungrounded NU bashing that goes on here. As I mentioned on your other post about NU there are a million front office co-op opportunities at bbs and boutiques including ER, IB (strong presence at Morgan Stanley), and cap markets.
Also, me and several others my year were able to get BB IB summer roles. I can't speak for the others but I didn't have any family connections and hustled my ass off to get it.
What you're doing by going to Cornell is paying a ton of money so you can work a little less hard to get an IB gig. Don't be lazy and also don't get convinced that banking is the end all be all like most people here will try to tell you.
I may stand corrected then. I'm speaking from a sample set 7+ years ago. Maybe recruiting is better now. Congrats on your role.
Any Northeastern alumni out there? (Originally Posted: 07/27/2013)
I am currently a student at Northeastern University studying international business with a concentration in finance. Are there any Northeastern alumni out there that I could connect with to ask you a few questions?
Alumni directory, LinkedIn, ect.
What do you guys think about Northeastern University? (Originally Posted: 06/15/2013)
I am currently attending Northeastern University in their International Business program with a concentration in Finance (just finished freshman year). I am hoping to get into investment banking upon graduation and I was wondering how hard/what kind of chance I had of getting into investment banking from Northeastern?
Any insight is greatly appreciated!
I don't know anything about your school but don't worry about what people say about your university. It's not a target so you'll have to bust your ass like everyone else to get into banking.
Northeastern Co op (Originally Posted: 02/08/2007)
Does anyone know anything about getting decent internships with the Northeastern Co-op?
If you aren't familiar with the co-op, Northeastern students are put onto a 5 year program where they will do three 6 month paid internships at firms according to their business concentration. I know it's very common for these students to get co-ops with firms like Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, etc, but I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of this in IB.
Sorry for reposting I just noticed this forum is much more popular
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