Emory College vs Georgia Tech Scheller vs UNC Kenan-Flagler (Assured Admit) vs Middlebury College
Hey everyone,
I'm a high school senior trying to decide between Emory College, Georgia Tech Scheller, UNC Kenan-Flagler (Assured Admit Program), and Middlebury College. My goal is to break into investment banking or consulting after graduation, and I was wondering which would give me the best chances.
I'd greatly appreciate any perspectives or experiences. Thanks so much in advance!
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here's what you need to know:
UNC Kenan-Flagler (Assured Admit Program): This is a strong choice for breaking into investment banking or consulting. UNC Kenan-Flagler is a well-regarded business school with solid alumni representation in finance and consulting. The assured admit program gives you direct access to the business school, which is a significant advantage for networking, internships, and recruiting opportunities.
Emory College: Emory has a good reputation, particularly through its Goizueta Business School. While not as strong as UNC Kenan-Flagler for direct IB/consulting placement, it still offers solid opportunities, especially if you can leverage Goizueta's resources and alumni network.
Georgia Tech Scheller: While Georgia Tech is renowned for its engineering and tech programs, Scheller College of Business is not as prominent in the investment banking or consulting space. However, it could be a good option if you're interested in tech-focused finance roles or consulting.
Middlebury College: Middlebury is a liberal arts college with a strong academic reputation. While it doesn't have a dedicated business school, its alumni network can still help you break into consulting or boutique finance roles, especially in the Northeast. However, it may require more effort to network and stand out compared to the other options.
Recommendation:
Good luck with your decision!
Sources: Help on my College List (Investment Banking/Finance), Comparison of College Athletes to Investment Banking, Investment Banking University Recruiting Report – 7 Key Takeaways, Investment Banking University Recruiting Report – 7 Key Takeaways
Go UNC and start preparing for PMT recruiting now. Also fade Emory, it’s glazed far too much on this site
I was actually thinking of Emory to be my top choice. Could you elaborate on why do you think Emory is overrated? Thanks!
Emory’s placements seem good on the outside but in reality pretty much all EB/BB placements are nepo or diversity. Don’t just take my word for it go on LinkedIn and see the people who placed and check the high school they went to. You’ll find many expensive private schools. Furthermore, there aren’t any real pipelines to firms from Emory. Plus the school has no spirit and resulting mid alumni loyalty and poor student life. On the other hand UNC offers one of the best student experiences out of any school and has extremely loyal alums. Their IB placement has been rapidly improving and they have established pipelines with firms. UNC sent 10+ people to NYC JPM IB this year while Emory only sent one. UNC PMT guarantees IB placement while Emory’s equivalent (GIMG) has many members who do not place.
Oh ok, I did not know that, thank you for your perspective.
Ignore above commenter entirely, they’re just echoing nonsense they saw on this forum that started with… who knows or cares.
Someone who actually went to Emory here: I genuinely think it’s the no-brainer choice. First and foremost, I loved my experience and Emory is a great place to go to school and spend your invaluable four years. Second, to address the comment, many of the students who go to Emory are “nepo” in general, not just those that recruit into finance; in other words, because Emory is a private school with a strong reputation, you’ll find that a majority of students come from affluent backgrounds (likely didn’t get admitted into [insert Ivy of your choice]). Therefore, if you do look on LinkedIn you’ll see many nepo hires, sure, but that is not because only nepo students get hired from Emory; it’s because there are many nepo students at Emory in general. I myself have zero family connections to finance as a first gen immigrant, did not join any finance clubs, and placed well in the recruiting process - and know of countless others in similar positions who did the same. If anything, it’s an advantage that there are many “nepo” kids at Emory because it allows you to tap into that network without being a part of it yourself.
Anecdotal evidence, but coming from Emory there was no firm I felt overlooked at during recruiting. I secured interviews at pretty much every bank on the spectrum, from PJT RSSG and Gs to various MMs (won’t mention what I chose / where I ended up for anonymity). The name will get you in the door, then it’s on you to convert. That’s really all you can ask for from a school, but i don’t know if the same can be said for the others on this list (I didn’t go to any of them)
60% of all Emory students went to private school. You're not smart.
I think GA tech is a regional target for Atlanta, so if you want to live in ATL after graduation then go there.
Emory is a good school, but it’s not necessarily the best for recruiting.
I don’t know much about UNC, but peak frameworks lists them as a semitarget, and peak frameworks has a pretty rigorous process for creating target/semi-target lists. UNC will also probably have the largest alumni network in banking, which will make networking/coffee chatting analysts easier (more people willing to respond to cold outreach).
This might be a hot take but Midd is probably the most prestigious school you listed. It’s a very well respected LAC. From a recruiting perspective, the school seems to be right behind Williams/Amherst. A lot of ppl say that only nepo/diverse candidates place from these LACs, and to be completely transparent I’m not sure if that’s true. I will say that I was on a networking zoom for Guggenheim NYC and an associate who went to I think Hamilton (or some other LAC) told us that he was much more likely to respond to cold outreach from kids who went to other LACs. I think people who went to small LACs feel a sense of connection to other people who went to similar schools, which is massively helpful for recruiting.
To maximize for IB, though, I’d go with UNC.
Anyone in IB or Consulting recruiting knows that Emory Goizueta outclasses Georgia Tech Scheller. We place kids in Bain, BCG, and McKinsey every year the amount of boutique firms that we place in for consulting outpace Scheller. IB even more so. Regionally in the Southeast, they may be slightly comparable but if you want NYC - Emory is the move.
Also starting next academic year, Emory is providing free tuition for families that make under $200K/ year so that's pretty insane.
Thanks for the insights. I was interested more in recruiting in ATL. How is the placement at Emory specifically, if you could shed some light on that?
Yall lie really easily here. GT is not a target for IB anywhere. For consulting only Atlanta.
Then what schools are regional targets for ATL?
I’d go UNC. Emory is beyond glazed for no good reason places decent in the south but still worse than a lot of other semis (vandy, BC, UNC) when it comes to direct pipelines to banks in t1 cities.
I'd do UNC personally
UNC
If your main goal is IB, I’d lean toward UNC or Georgia Tech for their stronger structured recruiting pipelines. Middlebury and Emory are excellent schools, but you may need to work harder on networking to break into banking.
When you say Emory College do you mean the two year branch in Oxford? Are you admitted to Goizueta?
KF places very well in Charlotte, heavily represented at WF and all of the MM banks. Plus a lot of people in business and power players throughout NC are UNC alums.
Hi, so I got accepted to both emory college and oxford college and I was also selected as an woodruff finalist, however, I did not receive the scholarship and was not admitted to goizueta because they do not admit directly from hs.
If undergrad idk but I’d say UNC, then Emory, then GT. If MBA, definitely 100% NOT Scheller…. Scheller grad and it’s a miracle I’m in my IB job / was 0% because Scheller helped me whatsoever. They’re not interested in helping people land in finance really at all and if so then a corporate LDP. Anything IB / PE they have literally nothing for you, will kinda stand in your way. I think everyone in WM was in WM before they came to Scheller too
Just saw you’re likely undergrad. Scheller’s better at UG level than MBA for finance but still would rec Emory if you’re landlocked to Atlanta. Otherwise, for sure UNC
Go Emory. Places very well and you are guaranteed entrance into Goizueta assuming your GPA meets the low ish threshold.
if you seriously want to place IB you would go to UNC....
Definitely Emory or Midd
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