Is it possible for UW Madison to improve itself, or is it screwed?
Is there a shot Wisconsin will improve in the next four years to give a student there at least a fighting chance in IB? As previously stated, I do math/econ and am planning to take math at least through differential eq's/linear algebra and do some applied stuff. But because I'm at a non-target, I'm thinking about just not going for that and instead doing actuarial science or something along that route.
In short, it's really embarrassing that Wisconsin has a bad finance reputation, especially when you consider that IU and SMU get much better placement than us despite being worse schools overall. UNC and Texas are considered UW's peers as a whole yet I don't even want to talk about how big a placement disparity there is between us and them. Basically, has UW's reparation improved recently, can it ever improve?
UW Madison is a fine school... that said the likelihood of its reputation on the street materially changing is low in 4 years. It takes like a decade for schools to build Wall Street pipelines given you have to get a decent number of alums out there.
The SMU/IUs of the world have built highly specialized investment banking factories - that does not happen in 4 years.
That said, unless you are a math whiz and will get a 4.0 doing it as a double major to finance, there is zero benefit to doing a math degree to prove you are sharp or anything like that. Finance is all you need, and will benefit you a lot more than a math degree because you automatically check the "interest in finance" box. Econ is less helpful than finance. Join the investment banking club, get an internship and network a bit and you will be fine.
People get very caught up in placement numbers but UW is a fun school and has plenty of alums both in Chicago and NY. If you make an effort there are 100% opportunities for you to land well.
edit: okay dude your post history is a little concerning. UW is not the only highly ranked school that punches below it's College News ranking in finance. CMU is essentially a non target for finance despite being a very competitive school. my advice is to chill out a bit on the rankings, UW is seriously a fine school for IB especially from the IB club
Ehh, I don't really like this school's party reputation. Like, this is the only thing this school has going for it? Nobody respects this school like they do UNC or Texas. By nobody I mean lay people of course. This school has other things going for it than partying. It's ranked 8th for research spending and has all academic departments (except business smh) ranked 30th or better in the nation. I really don't know where this party rep is coming from, it's not Wisconsin students who are pushing it. Like I said, the Econ department is very well though of, in fact so much so that I believe, and still do, that I can make more connections through the Econ department than the business school.
The business school does have and investment banking club which places, but the economics department has an undergraduate feeder program to academia. It has its own undergraduate economics journal supervised by faculty. Simply put, the undergraduate Econ department actually has more talent than its business school counterpart. Very unique situation, though Wisconsin is a very unique school.
This is an investment banking forum so people on here will focus on the investment banking club - I'm sure it's a good research/academia school but that doesn't really inform how well it does in finance careers
Still recommend you do a finance degree over econ regardless of "talent" or whatever, the coursework is just more relevant and useful... but up to you especially since you seem to be interested in academia
Kind of a weird topic - if you are so obsessed with rankings and reputation why not just transfer?
Jesus what a gay ass response. You chose a party school. Own it man. I went to a party school, had an amazing time, and still got a sick job. Yes you will constantly get questions like “you went there? Didn’t know they took anyone but retarded coke heads, what a surprise!” and you know deep down that you’re just like the retarded cokeheads you went to school with but you like money just 5-10% more so you’re willing to sacrifice a couple weekends prepping for interviews and calling alumni to get into banking. Let’s be real, non-target alumni - especially party school alumni - are so much more responsive and more likely to give you relevant advice. Harvard or Wharton alumni get hit up by everybody and there’s an expectation that you have your shit together before reaching out. If you can’t break in that’s actually just the expected outcome. You need to break / defy the odds and be exceptional to get into IB from a non-target party school. Use the vibes to your advantage. If you’re a dweeb at a party school you’re not playing to your hand. Lean into it pussy. Be the personality hire. Crush a bag with your associate. Fuck the secretary after the happy hour. Be a man and stop bitching about rankings. They’re not going to change anytime soon. They might shuffle around one or two spots in the next ten years but not much more than that. Nobody is gonna care about the “well akshually we’re ranked 10th in the nation for applied mathematical studies” bs. Your personal ranking can far exceed your school’s and that’s what matters. Best of luck
Agreed, very well said. Especially on how people would be better off with just the finance degree from basically any school, the math degree wouldn’t be of any benefit. Tbh it took me a while to realize the additional majors in stuff like math were actually pointless / potentially less favorable to have on resume as an applicant. One of those things that ppl may only realize later on
Regardless of school, it often comes down to the applicant, their qualifications, efforts and personality as well. It’s takes a lot of effort from any school to get a job in finance, especially these days
UNC and UT are significantly better than UW lets be fuckin fr
In what ways. If you claim Texas or UNC is academically better as a whole, then you’re just wrong.
You're delusional. Does UW have a psychiatric department?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_of_Wisconsin–Madison_people
Keep talking finance bro.
,
I’m gonna tap into my U-dub boys club and see if there’s some self-loathing angst-lord that’s moping around madtown.
You’ve made so many fucking posts about this dude.
I went to UMN. Weather is worse, crime is higher, and the women are uglier. And I still made something happen.
Grow up.
I like you you forget to mention the academics are much worse; average UMN kid...
Lmao buddy I’ve probably fucked more girls at your school than you have.
Couldn’t help but notice the error; wrong use of a semicolon.
they’ve literally had placements at every BB within the past 2 years. join the right clubs and quit whining. especially if diverse, you will have a vast array of opportunities spanning from LMM IB to UMM PE. also, not a lot of people study what you’re studying and pursue ib from there, so people who frequent this site will know who you are and think you’re a turd if you keep posting these weird little essays. Target doesn’t matter nearly as much as you think, and this is coming from a target kid.
The problem is UW shouldn't even be in this situation at all. It should be a target school; the faculty and students completely out class schools like Indiana by all objective measurements, whether that be graduation rates, standardized test scores, or alumni achievements. The school's party reputation is just so strong, and believe me IU people use that to their advantage to try and claim their better than UW.
nobody gives a fuck about your school until on cycle. substantial IB placement from ivies is nepotism anyway. you either put in effort or get lucky. no shortcuts even if you’re at harvard (where by the way, your competition is much smarter, more dedicated, and alums are not as responsive). be a man, grow up, and make it happen, there’s literally a GS team at your school lmfao
You're completely missing that IU has invested in a specific IB pipeline for decades. It's a huge priority for the finance faculty. UW Madison is a good school but it's like asking why a certain school has a better math program or English department. College News rankings are not indicative of every single program's individual ranking
Stop whining. UW will open up opportunities in IB, your attitude will close them.
Nice username, a little irony there no?
pls upvote this it needs to be rated most helpful
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I did not fully appreciate the idiocy of your comments. "Non-target for every industry." Huh? Have you seen our tech and real estate placements? I already mentioned the fortune 500 ceo statement, not to mention we are a feeder to Goldman Sachs and Rothschild co (check linkedin). Someone with more than two working braincells who check linkedin for employement outcomes in which you would see the average alumni salary+frequent employers. But it seems you're too dense to even get that one. UNC:68k, UW:71k, UT Austin:72k. Keep in mind, you get much much higher salaries in Texas than Wisconsin. Just pure idiocy at its finest. Oh and just to put the cherry on top, UW is one of the most hired PHD producers in the world, much much more than UNC or Texas because UW just completely outclasses UNC in any area outside business by a huge, laughable margin and matches Texas (although Texas wasn't good until 20 ish years ago). Because of this, UW is one of the 5 leading produces of professors in the world: https://www.laboratoryequipment.com/590235-Just-5-Universities-Train-Ma…
Seriously are you lobotomized or something? How did you have the intelligence to craft that paragraph. Absolute buffoon. The idea that UW=UNC=Texas is common knowledge man, I don't know how you fucked that up but I'm pretty sure my dog knows more about universities than you do.
Im not reading all of that lmao
Maybe you should put that much effort into getting into IB and then you wouldn't be complaining.
Cope.
Didn't get an offer b/c you probs weren't prepared on the process. On LinkedIn, there are hundreds of alumni from UW-Madison that are in IB across EBs, BBs, MMs, etc. They even have super strong presence over at Rothschild. I didn't go there but the if you got into the IB program, you are guaranteed to get interviews if you put in the work and network.
Don't blame the school, it's more on timing as markets aren't doing well and layoffs don't help either.
yeah lol im from UNC and i had 7 coffee chats with rothschild and i didnt even get a first round. be lucky for the alumni you have lol. (internal sources told me they barely did non target recruiting for SA 2024 at Roth)
Dude your entire post history is about Madison. Why don’t you just transfer?
Either transfer or grow up and get shit done.
Arguing on an online forum is not going to achieve shit.
OP go touch grass
dude stop whining ik a couple kids from UW that are placing well. this non/target shit is bs i go to a far worse school and still got decent offers. if you really want IB that bad you’d check the boxes of being a finance major and joining the IB club (which places well). if you don’t want to do either things than that’s fine it just means you don’t want it as bad which is ok. but don’t cry “waaaah my school isn’t a target” bc getting an offer is still definitely within ur grasp if u want it Edit: dude i went through your post history i think you may have some type of complex idk
This is your 6 topic about UW. No one cares about your pity party.
Gotta be honest man it if all you do is complain about undergrad, which by the way I come from a semi-target and know plenty of UW and other comparable state school kids in banking/PE, you won't be successful. It's easy to fall into that trap so don't let it happen.
If you're looking for advice, keep a decent gpa and join the investment/IB club and network your ass off. Id also suggest developing a personality outside of "uw apologist", no one wants to hire the guy that sucks at parties. You are better off finding something positive and memorable to connect with an alum or interviewer on during a coffee chat or interview, as it goes a long way.
There will always be a solution to whatever situation you're in so grow a set, stop complaining, and take full advantage of your opportunities.
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