Does UG School Title Really Matter???
I had recently just got a S&T SA position at a BB and am very happy about it. I come from a non-target in the West Coast and know first hand how hard it can be when you're not a target school level candidate going through recruitment. Although I sort of have my foot in the door for the industry with the internship I also have the opportunity to transfer to either Boston College, Boston University, or Northeastern.
I'm debating whether the move is worth it considering the context of the situation, and some of the questions I always have on my mind are:
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Does school only matter when trying to break into IB from college?
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Does school really matter when you're already in the firm and trying climb from Analyst, to Associate, to VP, etc.?
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Will my current no name Non Target impact a return offer or is it more performance based once your onsite?
I know those schools aren't exactly target schools but have more of a presence in IB than my current institution. I think these schools would offer more networking opportunities with top tier students not only in IB but across different fields. I would incur much more UG cost if I transferred so I don't really know if its worth to make this move. I would appreciate any advice!!!
Hey not sure if I can speak fully to all of your questions and about all of the places but my very limited experience at the two banks I worked at was that I’m not sure if people really knew or cared where you came from (in a sense of no judgement, unless hopefully just like a good judgement if anything). It was more about who was nice to work with, easy to work with, had good ideas, worked hard/effectively, brought good energy, all that kind of stuff. Some of my favorite coworkers came from schools I don’t believe I had ever heard of before I met them. Others came from the same school(s) I went to and/or have heard of before. Not sure if it’s cut and dry like that. Same with those who I have seen at the top of their organizations. But just my limited knowledge and sharing words here to try to help as I believe you requested in terms of you may appreciating it. Best wishes, good luck :)
Yes, your UG is something that will follow - even if you attend a top B-school later on in life. Where you went will always be a topic of conversation and a way to gauge someone. Transfer 100%.
Not going to say whether or not transferring is worth it here, but people on here are a bit dismissive of the power of a target in finance long after you graduate.
I was on a diligence call today and the PE partner and my MD realized they both went to Dartmouth. Spent at least 10 minutes joking about it. A new lateral analyst on my desk chimed in that he too went to Dartmouth, and the MD (who absolutely didn’t know this kids name before the call today) completely lit up and he looked so excited. Couple hours later the lateral told me the MD called him “just to introduce himself and get to know each other”.
Is this make or break? Not at all, but just trying to show having a school with lots of alumni can be invaluable
Really insightful! My family and I are leaning towards BU, I don't know how much coverage there is on Wall Street in terms of alumni presence but just curious what you think about the school in terms of name recognition and overall wall street recognition.
BC will have a stronger OCR program, but if you already have a BB offer locked down, I'd go with the more affordable option at that point.
Not the most PC answer but - 'name brand' does matter in the long-run, go to BC.
Agree with this. The great part is you can earn the same degree from BC / BU as others at half the price.
I would say yeah, sometimes even outside of traditional finance.
I was recently trying to raise funding for my startup. One of our pitch calls the lead VC partner happened to be a Georgetown grad (like myself), and it totally switched the dynamic of the deal (she even reached out to me personally on linkedin after). Similar thing happens whenever I reach out to another gtown founder / executive / VC -- tend to be way more responsive.
And that's just gtown. My co-founder is a Harvard dropout. You would not believe the kinds of connections that brought us. While gtown got us some VC action / talks with places like sweetgreen / uber eats, Harvard got us intros with founders/first hires at places like twitch / lime / palantir / google etc. Genuinely could not have completed the raise without the harvard network.
We pitched to a ton of big name VCs via these school networks, but to just give an annoying example of how this made a difference with a more mid-tier firm, I'll mention our experience with Contrary Capital. Basically contrary is a VC that invests in college students (probs a 50mm fund or so) and has a network of student scouts at the nation's top schools. Traditionally, you have to go through these scouts and up a whole corporate ladder to get a pitch. We were able to skip the entire process and get a direct meeting with Contrary's founding partner. Go figure. My other friend at Gtown couldn't get a contrary meeting through the gtown scout, had to then use their JHU co-founder to get a meeting, and ultimately got rejected.
yall hiring interns?
Not presently. Just made some first FT hires. Will definitely revisit having interns as we go (maybe this summer).
Shoot your shot 2k21
Glad to see that you and your co-founder are really making it through your startup endeavors. Just out of curiosity, did you do IB before taking on your startup and if so do you think Boston University has a good presence on the street that will pay dividends down the line and what you think their overall reputation?(I know you are a Georgetown grad, just wanted see if you've come in contact with any BU grads).
Thanks man! I personally did not do IB before the startup -- I dropped out before recruiting started. That said, I have some experience in VC and have a boatload of friends heading to IB/PE from a variety of schools.
I think BU has a solid reputation, but not one that will pay "dividends" down the line like a Harvard or Stanford. I've definitely come into contact with BU people across IB/VC/the startup world, though. It will get you in the door if you put the work in.
Life in general is really individual driven imo. For instance, I have a technical friend @ BU whom I would consider for CTO-esque roles far before any Joe Schmoe stanford/mit student.
Thanks, you're the man! Good luck with start-up, hope it sky rockets!
No problem and thanks!
Definitely does. Went to a non-target but recently our school has created a pipeline with one of the top MM banks (HW, WB, Jefferies, Baird). They seemed to have gotten at least one summer analyst from our school every year for the past 2-3 years. Interestingly enough, no senior bankers there but I guess their associate who was an A2A from our school really impressed them enough to create a pipeline. Occasionally the cream of the crop students will end up at BBs in NY/SF but it's rare. Most people who pursue IB in the past when I graduated got regional boutiques with low $ deal value or slow deal flow.
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