Is it because of the economy or something else that this phenomenom is occuring? I've been seeing less Ivy-league/Duke/Stanford/"prestigious" school kids in banking and more kids from top business programs like stern, haas, uva, michigan etc, even at top BBs and places like Lazard/Greenhill/Evercore
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im guessing more students?
berkeley, virginia, michigan, texas, north carolina probably have more students that are trying to get in than all ivy league/stanford combined?
Or because you're referring to Boutiques in your post and not BB IB. While these schools are represented in BBs, they are represented, to a greater degree in boutique firms.
boutiques > bb :O
It is becoming easier through sites like WSO to learn more about finance and get exposure. Before, there was limited resources to learn and to network if you were not part of the Ivies. The internet and the information age has given banks the ability to be able to recruit and attract talent from all over, not just a few select schools in the northeast.
stern, haas, uva, michigan were always as big of feeders as the non-business targets. makes perfect sense why does it surprise you
Here is my two cents ... smaller firms with less resources need people with a technical/relevant background compared to a larger firm that could train them internally.
There are only two Ivys that offer business programs (Penn and Cornell). The only other elite that offers business as UG is MIT. I'm a liberal arts major from a target school with a business program, and I had a difficult time getting internships and full-time offers for IB. Nearly every recruiter I spoke with wanted candidates with acc/corp fin. coursework and some internship in finance. That being said, most of those companies were smaller firms, i.e. middle market and boutiques ... with much smaller resources than the BBs (I find BBs don't really care what you studied as long as you're smart and you show that you have what it takes).
Put it simply: the smaller the firm, hard skills are more valued ... the larger the firm, soft skills are more valued. Any thoughts?
Another thing ... there may be a growing trend of ivy kids going into entrepreneurship ... what I call the Ivy League Pipe Dream of following in the foot steps of Billy G and Mark Z.
Is the University of miami included in these new target schools?
I think bbc nailed it to the point.
In larger firms such as bulge brackets, all they want are generally smart kids (since they teach them everything they need to know in the training programs), hence the reason why the ivy leagues and upper-tier university kids with liberal arts degrees can still compete well with business majors.
However when it comes to boutiques and other firms without a HUGE training program, they prefer students who already have finance experience finance-related coursework. Also keep in mind that bulge bracket banks also love diversity, not only in terms of race, but also in terms of one's major, hence liberal arts can set you aside from the pack.
All in all, you can't go wrong with a business degree lol
Banks are getting smarter these days. Hiring the best people.
if by "best people" you mean b-school kids ... then come on, lets be serious ... b-school is a joke. its not remotely difficult and its purely a vocational school ... like itt tech (except for business) ... that being said, it is a "safe" bet if your sole purpose to land a job.
False.
^^^
Wow, thanks for reviving a thread that's been dead for almost two months to provide us with that well-reasoned and extensively laid-out argument!
LOL
Short, I love ya bro, but your wrong about Boutique >> BB. It's not about the bank itself but who owns the bank.
Privately Owned Firm >>>>>>> Publicly Owned Shop.
It doesn't matter what firm your at, as long as their is public ownership involved, your SOL wherever you go.
how about BBs in Asia (specifically HK and Singapore)? Do they only prefer those with finance backgrounds or do they not care? Do they have training programs like those in the US?
^ Generally speaking, if you're referring to bulge-bracket IBD, they concentrate much more on targets (Ivies + a few other schools). The reason for this is that Asian mentality generally gives large weight to brand name in general, and the amount of positions are much less than in NY - therefore, they can literally fill an entire class with just Ivies (~15 people / bank).
Broadly speaking, they care a little bit more about the technicals during interviews, but really nothing you can't learn by reading Vault. Fit matters a lot as well as the environment is much more close-knit.
And yes, training takes place in New York.
im pretty sure JPM NYC regards UMich as semi-target school, GS - target school. i think UMich, UChi, Northwester are all strong chicago office feeders. when it comes to semi-target school, locations matters.
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