Cal Poly SLO for investment banking? or SJSU/SCU?

Hi everyone, I applied to cal poly slo and have fallen in love with the school. It is VERY cheap, just the right distance from home, and they have a strong engineering and business school. However, I haven't ever seen anyone mention it in this forum, so my question is, is it any good for investment banking? I want to do banking in either the bay area or LA. How do SJSU and Santa Clara compare?

22 Comments
 

No idea about ib but I would imagine they go great for STEM type jobs. San Luis Obispo is a good town though

Quant (ˈkwänt) n: An expert, someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
 

Definitely not a target but I just checked LinkedIn and there's some representation the street: couple guys at Jefferies and other t Piper Jaffray, one girl at Qatalyst (mind-blowing), Centerview, Cowen. Looks like if you do well in school, network intro related experience pre-junior year, and network, you could land something.

Congrats!

 

UCSB has some representation as well. Plus the surrounding area is gorgeous (not Goleta, but everywhere else). I would guess the placement is stronger for the West Coast but check LinkedIn.

If I didn't meet my fiancee where I did go to school, I would've always regretted not going to UCSB personally.

“The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.” - Nassim Taleb
 

SCU sends about 5 kids to BBs a year, mostly to SF but I've known of some going to NYC as well.

 
Most Helpful

SCU is on the up for banking. The IB club is ran by kids with BB offers, who are super invested in the club and those who join. The club is very structured and if you start early you'll be prepped with everything you need as well as an extensive support system. They are very close to get an investment banking prep course taught by faculty which students can earn credit for (they would have had one this year but admin messed up). The alumni network, while small, is growing and super willing to help out. Last year nearly all the BB asked the club for a resume book and it looks to be the same for this year. It is still a non-target (duh) but is starting to get looks from banks. In the Bay Area the only schools that really beat out SCU are Stanford and Berkeley, thus the applicant pool is much smaller, giving SCU yet another advantage. Also SCU's business school has a finance major meaning less self-study as you learn a good amount of banking material in your major courses. Lastly, being in the area makes networking and internships during the school year much more accessible as the surrounding area is filled with tech focused boutiques that are easy to commute to. Hope that helps PM me if you are interested in more info

 

CPSLO has no OCR for banking, but as mentioned before, there is a surprisingly sizeable alumni network for west coast boutiques, MMs, and even some EBs and BBs (buyside alumni network is very small though). Alumni are pretty responsive to networking requests and there’s an IB club that helps quite a bit as well. Your chances of getting an IB offer will be fairly equal between CPSLO, UCSB, and Santa Clara (Santa Clara has bit of an advantage in the bay though). But the bottom line is try to go to an actual target or semi-target if you’re dead-set on banking. You still have to work extremely hard to get an offer if you go to one of 3 schools you listed.

 

Went to Cal Poly - strong for accounting and engineering, could swing IB if you did engineering but don't expect any help from On Campus Recruitin - there is zero for business (great for comp sci/engineering)... Expect to do everything yourself network wise, but crush the grades and network and you could get an IB spot. I have a couple friends who did, but they were 3.9+ gpa top tier candidates with networks. Think MM Jefferies Wedbush etc.

 

From Cal Poly SLO. Had a tough time getting interviews out of college (was not a 3.9+ GPA). However I've been working for more than a year and am currenrly in the process of making a lateral move into banking and there are for sure people from Cal Poly in the industry up in San Francisco. It also feels like the number is growing compared to the amount of people in the industry when I was a sophomore. Still expect a tougher time getting your foot in the door initially.

 

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