Most Comprehensive Prestige Rankings

Hi all. Lots of talk about relative prestige by function these days. To get a definitive answer, I asked the Alumni Councils of Phillips Exeter, Phillips Academy Andover, and Harvard Westlake to answer a survey of “which functions would you be least embarrassed about your middle child withering away in?” After some back and forth in which both Phillip’s Alumni Councils insisted they would not participate in any survey in which Harvard Westlake was on the same podium as them (suggesting Sidwell Friends as a begrudging replacement,) I finally received replies by pointing out we need West Coast representation due to Stanford’s rise. Without further ado, here are the results!

1. MF PE
2. MF VC
3. PE firms that don’t have to beg random family office LPs for three years to raise a new fund and have zero 5th year associates with no carry
4. VC funds that don’t have to suck up to no-name startups to get them to take their money and don’t have to awkwardly pitch convertible bonds to desperate founders who wouldn’t talk to them if they had another choice
5. M NYC (“they have promote when ready bro which is why I was really drawn to them over B/B. The team thinks I’m going to kill it.”)
6. CVP IB (“After my summer internship I think I want to be a career banker and I really think this is the best place for that”)
7. B/B NYC (“The office has an informal “no assholes” rule so the no sharp elbow culture really drew me to B/B”)
8. GS/MS/EVR/PJT IB (NYC or SF)
9. JPM IB (NYC or SF)
10. Moelis LA
11. MM PE (if you have pre-MBA IB experience only)
12. FANG PM (NO AMAZON)
13. BofA/Citi/Moelis/Laz IB (NYC or SF)
14. Deloitte S&O/Booz/Parth/Strategy& (NYC Only)
15. SF MBB
16. Mutual funds (investment team only)
17. Tier 2 city MBB
18. Tier 1 Bank IB Houston (Only if family reasons required you to be in TX)
19. Fake bulge brackets and tier 2 EBs (NYC)
20. Microsoft PM
21. Accenture Strategy
22. Video game company PM
23. PMM if that was your first choice
24. Alvarez and Marshall/Ogilvy
25. Tier 1 Bank IB Houston (If you struck out NYC, see #17 if it was first choice)
26. Salesforce tier PM
27. Tier 3 consultancies in a tier 1 city
28. Competitive LDPs
29. Tier 3 bank IB NYC
30. PMM if you struck out for consulting first
31. Amazon “PM”
32. Random consultancies in random cities that pay market or above market
33. Corporate Finance
34. Pathways
35. Operations
36. Implementation/technology consulting
37. VC firms that don’t pay their interns and will never promote

Glad we can answer that question finally! Please consult this list if any future questions regarding prestige arise.