Hawkinson at Iowa
Hi,
Looking into colleges for undergrad and have an interest in banking. I'm from Iowa and am concerned about trying to break in from University of Iowa or Iowa State but going to college in state would save me a lot of money. Looking at the programs, University of Iowa has something called the Hawkinson Institute that says they place people every year into banking. The banks all seem good but not sure if they are in true IB.
Does anyone know how good the program is? or should I just pay more money and try to get into Michigan or Indiana?
Thanks!
I went to ISU. One or two got into IB each year I was in school, so it's possible. Most grads get into corporate finance, insurance, and sometimes asset management. If IB is your goal, Iowa would be the better option. Chicago is much more likely coming out of Iowa, from what I've seen. If IB is your goal and you can get in, UM or Indiana are 100% your better option unless you have money problems. However, if you go to ISU or Iowa, there are still companies that recruit with solid internship opportunities you can do that can get you into IB if you're crushing it in school and are involved with student orgs.
Might be a bit late replying to this, but the statistics on the Hawkinson website are correct. Every year for the last 10+ years, the program has placed 15-20 kids in IB per year. Granted, the majority of the positions are in Chicago. However, ~5-7 place into top tier BBs in NY. With current representation at GS, BofA, JPM, MS, Barclays, HL and William Blair. Additionally, there have been past placements at offices in California such as Moelis LA and William Blair SF. The Hawkinson program does a fantastic job preparing students for internships and in turn, fulltime positions. It is selective, but if you get in you're essentially guaranteed a spot somewhere in IB if you put the work in (with the hardest working students/ones with East Coast preference often placing in NY or other locations outside of the Midwest). Not sure where this misnomer regarding Iowa comes from, hard to beat for quality of education and price compared to other schools, especially with the number of placements in IB on a yearly basis.
Its a very good but selective program. Each class is about 20 students 10-15 usually land at a MM or BB/EB bank, the others usually opt to do accounting, generally by choice. Given how early recruting is now, you really only have one shot to get in. I believe applications open at the start of the second semester so they can see some initial grades. Most people that get in are also in one of the 2 good business frats and can prep you pretty well (often they are an interviewer along with the program head, an ex Lehmen guy). As long as you also have good grades first semester (3.5 is the floor) and ideally a high ACT/SAT, you should be fine to get in. Its probably even easier if you are diversity as it is therefore it will be easier to place you at banks (some diveristy will even land sophmore program IB internships).
Placements for the current class (2023 interns): 7 at BBs (mostly top and mid BBs); 1 at EB; 7 at MMs (mostly Lincoln and WB, given Chicago proximity) and 1 at a boutique. Of these, 90-100% of these are in IB, occasionally there's an S&T person that ends up at a BB.
Source: I went there, applied and got rejected from the program twice, still made it
Indiana has a great program but even more competitive. Iowa and Indiana are pretty similar calibar schools in most respects but Indy's business school is definetly more selective. Michigan obviously is the best of the bunch but will be harder to differentiate yourself from others and will be the most expensive.
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