which school is better for ibanking? williams college or columbia

Columbia, hands down.

Don't go to a school based on whether it's good for ibanking or not. You can make it to banking from practically any school you want. Go to the place you feel right about and can have a lot of fun.

Columbia's better, but Williams also places very well.

agree with bisbane.

i'd be more worried about which school fits better. liberal arts college is very very different from university in nyc. figure out what you want out of your college experience.. i.e. tighter community vs. new york city?

purely on the basis of which is better for ibanking, columbia wins hands down. But they are pretty different schools, so you should take all those factors into account.

You could argue that Chicago's placement is better than Williams. Chicago's experience is a lot more similar to Columbia's as opposed to Williams, so seeing as how you chose Williams I would stick to it...

Columbia, hands down.

Chicago? Are you kidding me? Chicago doesn't compare to Williams or Columbia.

I'd go with Williams personally since it has more of a socially oriented student body IMO - strong alumni network, smaller campus, a better extracurricular:student ratio. Columbia is awesome too but I doubt it has better per capita banking placement than Williams. I've worked with people from both in the past and you don't see any difference in abilities.

In terms of geographic location, being in the heart of nyc gives you a great number of internships both during the school year as well as the summer. Plus, all the bb firms come to columbia to recruit. IMO, Columbia should be up top on your list simply because it offers more opportunities to land an internship. It'd be harder, for example, to find a internship during the school year at williams. That's just my 2 cents.

Columbia, because you are able to intern during school.

Best,
SoulSearching

I'd say Columbia. Not because it's better for ibanking. For god's sake, you might end up changing your mind. In the next four years, alot happens. But an Ivy-education, while sometimes overstated as opposed to somehere else (since really what matters is what you learn), opens up alot of doors for you, whether you still want to do banking or something else.

I don't think this is the best board to get advice with this one. Going to Columbia thinking it will give you the opportunity to intern during the year would be a mistake - you'll be taking 5 classes a semester, and to keep your grades up there you may realize that you don't have the time to be doing an internship.

Both schools have their pros and their cons. If you did well at either school, there would be no reason for you to have any trouble getting into banking. As noted above, Williams has a strong alumni network and I believe alumni networking is the number one way to get your first internship and job.

As both are great schools, it should really be a question of fit. The next four years should be some of the best years of your life - go to the school where you'll be most happy because thats where you'll be most likely to succeed and make the connections that will ultimately lead to your first job.

If you're choosing between Columbia and Williams (both great schools, I would look at urban vs rural campuses.

Williams is a small school in a small town whereas Columbia is a city school.

Both should get you to IBanking.

To big unit:

Chicago compares very favorably to both schools and is at least equal to Columbia.

columbia=better exit ops to IB, more fun

do not make the mistake of going to williams over columbia

I am about to graduate from Columbia and I will be going into IB. All of my friends who wanted to go into IB are also going into IB. In terms of placement, Columbia is probably the best on your list. But you should ask yourself not whether or not Columbia is good for banking, ask if you can handle an urban college experience with a largely anti-social student body and a labyrinthine administration.

don't worry about it -- williams will place (know two who got offers at MS). go where you feel you'll have the best experience... if you're smart and dedicated, you'll do fine no matter where you go.

that's just simply wrong.

Anyways, I would say columbia definitely puts you at an advantageous place in a broad sense, afterall, its ivy league status does open doors. But you can definitely acheive what you want at Williams, which is a great school nonetheless.

Bro, I live like 20 mins from Williamstown and there ain't shit to do there. Your nightlife will be thai food, a small "indie" theater, a coffee shop, and an ice cream shop.

You couldn't find two more different schools. Williams is the best liberal arts college in the country, has a tiny student body, is a very outdoorsy, small-school feel. Columbia is the ultimate city school with a disparate student body. Both will get you pretty much any job you want coming out, finance or otherwise. Pick the one you like.

Not to understate Williams' excellence, but Columbia is simply superior. Being in the city provides countless advantages and will allow you better access to all of the banks. As someone said earlier, the ivy league degree will also open up a lot of doors should you decide to forgo banking in favor of a different route. I would definitely go with Columbia. Williams students may be more cohesive (at least that's what I've been told), but Columbia is in the city and that provides more social opportunities than anything Williams can. Williams' location will get boring very quickly.

I honestly just don't see there being enough of a gap between Williams and Columbia to tell a kid to go to Columbia no matter what. If you are not the type of kid who wants big classes, hate living in the city, and like to get outdoors, then Williams is the place you should go. As a high schooler nobody knows what they want to be; I didn't really even know about investment bankers until my sophomore year of college! Picking a school for exit opps is silly.

The reality is you are picking between a strong Ivy and the best LAC in the country. You can't go wrong. Choose the one that you liked more. If you liked the small-school, outdoorsy, familial attitude of Williams, go there. If you were excited about city life and don't mind bigger classes and don't care much about whether you bond with your classmates go to Columbia. It's a total matter of preference, not quality, because they're both extremely high quality.

As a side note, Williams is D-3, meaning if you play a sport and are a decent athlete you'd have a helluva lot better chance of playing there than Columbia. Also, while Columbia has a lot more stuff to do thanks to NYC, Williams is dirt cheap in terms of spending for going out, and they have great sports to play/watch for such a small school. Like I said, it's a total matter of preference.

Big city/Big atmosphere/Big classes/Not much of a 'campus feel'

vs.

Rural/Tight community/Small classes/Definite 'campus feel

Also, for those not aware, Williams kids have perhaps more resources per student than any school save Harvard or Yale. Their $1.9b endowment is for only 2050 kids (about $930,000 per student), while Columbia's $7.15b is for 24,500 kids (about $290,000 per student). So as far as opportunities at the school to learn and access the best resources, Williams rivals any school in the country.

I would say go with what you like, but as someone who turned down Williams I can say that the biggest thing you should be concerned about is the location. Both Williams and Amherst are very similar in that they have a ton of parties bc there's nothing else to do.

... choosing a college based on career preferences is a huge mistake. Career preferences can change a lot over the course of 4 years. If someone is set on banking and nothing else as a senior in high school, it might make more sense to apply to an undergraduate business program like UPenn-Wharton. If I were you, I'd base my decision on preferences like student body size, setting (the two couldn't be more different), class size, etc.

But to answer your question, I think it's a toss-up which is better for banking. There may be fewer Williams grads on the street, but a case can be made that there is a higher percentage of the Williams alumni population who get into banking, relative to how many desire to get into banking.

I'm a Williams grad working in banking at a major bb firm and can tell you there's tons of IB and consulting recruiting on campus. There's a lot of that at Columbia, plus the proximity. I loved my time at Williams and can't imagine going to college anywhere else. But that's just me. Good luck!

Columbia. Better school, access to better professors (like Stiglitz), better lectures (there's always some diplomat coming into speak like every week) and the best placement for I-banking; not to mention the Ivy league pedigree that gives you global opportunities in an increasingly global oriented environment.

From what I've seen I think the girls at Williams are pretty bangin (excepting my sister's two friends who are going there next year).