Average Student at Target or Top Student at Semi-Target to Land MBB Jobs?

Is it better to attend a target such as Northwestern and be an average student, or attend a regional semi-target such as Babson and be a top student?

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Be an exceptional top student at a target.

If that choice isn't possible (why not?) I would pick the target school and leverage brain power as much as possible.

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Even at targets, only the top students get offers.  My target sent only 18 to MBB last year (Out of ~2000 graduating seniors).  If you are an average target kid with a 3.4, you are not in the game for MBB.

That being said, @OP, go to a target and be the top student.  Don't assume that going to a lower ranked school will make it easier to get a high GPA.  At any school (that's not some insanely hard major/program), working hard could get you the grades you need.  

My ranking would be Top at target >>>>>>>> Top at Semi-target >>>Average at Target

It does depend on the schools though.  Looking at linkedin, it does not seem Babson has a good pipeline to MBB, so it is more of a non target than a semi target.  Northwestern is a top notch school as well.  You should not pass up on that brand.

 
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You'll be most successful at the school that you like the most. Never, ever, ever pick a school solely based off job prospects. If you hate the school, you'll perform poorly, have a shitty 4 years, and not even get the job you want. 

That being said, Babson College is not a semi-target. A quick google search will yield that neither Bain, McKinsey, or BCG have recruiting pages for Babson, and thus likely don't do on-campus recruiting or have dedicated recruiting teams. It looks like from their 2019 career outcomes report that they placed someone at BCG, but none at Bain or McKinsey.

 

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