NESCAC recruited athlete - good for finance?
Hello all,
My brother is currently a junior in high school being recruited for swimming. With his current times, the nescac schools are probably a guaranteed entry at this point. Amherst, Colby, Midd, and Williams are all very interested. We also have some interest from NYU and a few other great lac’s in other areas of the country. With a bit more improvement in his times, he’ll be able to qualify for better schools - Uchicago, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Duke, BC, BU, Emory, etc… He’s very close.
I know the better known schools will yield better outcomes, but let’s say he doesn’t get the times he’s aiming for and he’s limited to the nescac schools. Will he still be ok for finance recruiting? How good is the placement for recruited athletes. I’ve seen some prior posts saying the network is strong, especially for athletes… but would be nice to get an updated perspective for 2026.
We are a first generation immigrant family, so we don’t have any connections to any powerful people in this field. I do work in Strat Finance, but I’d like for my brother to get into high finance first and then figure out what he wants to do long term.
Just trying to guide him the best I can to get to where he wants to be. Would appreciate and advice and recommendations on nescac schools.
From Amherst and Williams, he will be in a great spot. Tons of alums in great shops all over the street. Both schools had great placement this year for SA 27, and the NESCAC athlete network is also super helpful. Your also competing with less sweats so your average guy can land great offers.
got it. As far as middlebury and colby go, are those just as good as williams or amherst? I know middlebury does quite well with finance placement.
Middlebury is a worse school than Williams or Amherst but is only slightly worse for recruiting. Colby is a more noticeable drop in recruiting and arguably school quality.
I definitely would have chosen Williams or Amherst back in the day if I had known about the leg up athletes get in recruiting at those schools (and they’re higher targets than Emory/WashU in the first place). My experience is that athletes at my school do not have any benefit over narps in terms of recruiting. My team doesn’t really have a network, culture is too swimming focused (banking/finance talk around teammates is somewhat frowned upon), and no one really has time for clubs.
Appreciate the insight!
I'd advise you to do some extensive due diligence on linkedin (reaching out to athletes from those schools) on top of this post to make your final decision.
Do not do this ^
Athletes have an absolutely ridiculous advantage at LACs, the placement is nothing short of remarkable given their lack of competence and is honestly better than anything they’d be able to achieve at even HYP. He should take it and run
Student-athlete at A heading to IB this summer...being an athlete helps a lot, but people place nonetheless. Just being on a team doesn't really guarantee an offer, and I know ppl who struck out as athletes, and others who are at GS/EVR/CVP. I think the difference is massive at Williams, however.
Just be proactive when it comes ot recuriting
thanks for the comment! Best of luck with the summer internship!
Athlete at Amherst, Williams and a probably Midd will place better than every school you listed and honestly better than many you did not.
For varsity athletes they are essentially high end targets it’s crazy
That’s interesting. You’re saying athlete at one of the top LAC’s is more appealing than an athlete at say Uchicago, NYU, Emory, Georgetown? I find that hard to believe.
Athlete for athlete - A/W/Midd is still better for finance?
I’ve combined 10 years experience at 2 of GS/MS/JPM/EVR/CVP/UBS
My experience is anecdotal, but at my firms Amherst/Williams athletes placed better than both athletes and non-athletes from all the schools you mentioned in your initial post (assuming NYU ex Stern) and as good as or better than many others (basically everything except HYP+S)
The sports teams at those schools have exceptionally strong pipelines that get reinforced year over year as old team members help new ones with interviews and networking.
And because D3 athletes have much higher academic requirements than D1, the overall quality is generally better than at D1 schools
Just my observational 2 cents.
One edit: you are at a slight disadvantage at Midd probably and a HUGE disadvantage at Colby relative to A/W
Not UChicago and Stern
I went to a mid-tier NESCAC and yes, they are some of the best schools you can go to for finance assuming its not Conn College
Definitely not considering conn college. Main considerations rn are Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, and Colby. NYU is also one of our preferred choices, as well as Dartmouth… if he can get his times down a bit more. If he can improve about 10% overall in his times, he’ll probably be able to gather some interest from the Ivies. Like I said, Nescac rn is the worst case scenario but it seems that it’s still a great place to land.
Interesting, obviously can’t go wrong with ivies or nescacs, having just graduated I will say outside of just job opportunities, the liberal arts education/community of a nescac did wonders for me personally and mentally. I’m sure it will be the same at an Ivy but probably less so at NYU. I would also say that I would not want to go to college in Manhattan, especially if the plan is to live there after school I would want a real / traditional college feel because you only get that once
What are his best times
Dartmouth/Amherst/Williams/Middlebury/NYU/Colby in order from best to worst
Amherst and Williams are leagues better than Emory, BU, BC, and arguably Georgetown in every way. If he can get offers from UChicago, Darty, Stern, take those in that order
Got it. I wasn't aware that Williams and Amherst are that much better than Georgetown/BC/BU/ and Emory.
Georgetown is also better than the other 3 and reasonably close to A/W
Any comment on Emory? They actually recently showed interest in recruitment and his coach is apparently friends with the Emory coach.
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