How to make a non target a semi target?

I think some of it is up to HR, but most of it is up to politics. Frankly, I think the target school system is pretty darned foolish. In fact, one of the world's best investment banks agrees with me- they try to interview for FO positions at nearly every flagship state school and a number of satellites.

A prominent professor typically uses his contacts to place a handful of select students. This eventually leads to an informal recruiting presence. Maybe some on campus or at least an imponderable drop. Maybe you court some local MM firms or boutiques.

more $ = higher quality student body = more prestigious alumni base = better reputation

Is every person who graduates from an Ivy who works at a BB the most qualified candidate for the job? No. Are there very qualified/intelligent candidates at non targets that get passed over simply because of the school they go to? You bet.

This might sound foolish, but just like any system... it only sucks for those that it's not working for. That is what gives us a reason to strive for those targets/BBs and the opportunities that come along with them.

I dunno. I think more students means better choices. Penn State has a huge undergraduate student body and offers more quality candidates than most Ivy Leagues. The selection process is a little bit more work since you have to filter out 80% instead of 60% at the target schools, but if you've got high quality interviewers, it's clearly worth it. State schoolers who make the cut at a firm with target school system tend to be a lot smarter and a lot hungrier than the average target school student who makes the cut. (Naturally, the top 5% at every school is always very strong and it's tough to differentiate at that level.)

Kinda like unions worried about H1B visas, I have always had a sneaking suspicion that some of the most vocal supporters of the target school system believe they couldn't have made it in if they had to compete on a level playing field.

A lot of it is on the career services offices, especially at schools that are on a similar playing field in terms of admission and academic rigor, but lag way behind in recruiting. I think ANT's right in that many schools need to be way more proactive.

I found that if my friends and I let career services know we were actively pursuing opportunities at banks and consulting firms, they had an additional list of alumni they'd give us access to, and a few resume drops sprang up as if by magic. If the demand is there, and the office is good, they'll do the work.

Its kind of dumb luck.

What usually happens to get a non-target on the recruiting circuit for ONE bank is a high-value MD who went to said above average but not target school says "wait we're not recruiting at UConn? Why the fuck not?" Gets someone from HR or the recruiting committee on the horn and now they have a full blown recruiting process at UCONN. Then in a close time frame, another school starts recruiting at that school. Maybe because they had the exact same situation happen. Maybe because that same MD happened to leave and join this other firm. Maybe because they just felt like adding it. ANd not 2 major competitors are recruiting at UConn and now others feeling like they missed something and jump on the bandwagon. Its the same way the hiring-sprees start. Wall Street is largely a world of followers.

Essentially it just needs a critical mass to get the ball rolling. So say 2 BB firms doing OCR.

second the notion by ANT that professors help place certain students into roles with contacts at elite firms; i have seen this happen to friends (and to a lesser extent myself since I go to a semi-target/regional target). this usually ends up turning into a weird situation where universities become a pipeline for certain groups that hate recruiting through HR anyways so it never hits the official target list. a top HPY grad would kill for these roles but they hire like 1 analyst a year etc...target status is probably determined by how vocal the alumni contingent is at the bank

I think you could call my school a semi-target (target for MMs, semi for bulges), and from what I have seen it is all about leveraging alumni contacts, which in my opinion is the responsibility of the career center if they want to convert that into on campus recruiting.
For the students, if you leverage contacts yourself, you can make something happen, especially given that most people on the street from my school worked their asses off, and are very willing to help – there is a high concentration of b school kids though, but I can't imagine anyone being less helpful b/c someone is in the college; the b school career center is a different story, they want to keep their contacts to b school only, I think to push up their numbers–>rankings, which although I like higher rankings, still think is fucked up, if I was in the college I would be pissed, as everything in the college is available to b school kids.

I come from a non-target. Interviewed with a highly-respected MM bank the past recruiting season. Absolutely nailed every question, very technical, knew my shit. Then the last question the interviewer asked was why he should hire me over an Ivy student, which kind of pissed me off.

I think a non target can become a semi target by getting a couple guys into good positions. I know that if i am ever in a position where i make hiring decisions, i will belooking out for CVs that went to the same non target.