OSU (Fisher) vs. IU Bloomington (Kelley)
Which one? For IB after graduation? I know neither is target. IU has IBW. OSU has Fisher Futures. Price is not an issue. I am not in-state for either.
Trending Content
| +461 | BOFA ALREADY TRYING TO COVER UP THEIR TRACKS | 62 | 19m | |
| +213 | This is a dark day for Wall Street. | 22 | 4m | |
| +159 | Bank of America - Juniors Strike to start Monday May 6th | 27 | 3m | |
| +154 | Investment Banking US League Table YTD 2024 (FactSet) | 85 | 1s | |
| +146 | Big Layoff at Barclays - 5/1/24 | 85 | 2h | |
| +87 | “Americans just work harder” | 53 | 1d | |
| +83 | Would comitting to ATL İB be stupid? Please give feedback. | 45 | 3d | |
| +69 | Sleeping on Jefferies??? | 33 | 7h | |
| +66 | A shitter's comprehensive guide to sophomore year recruiting | 7 | 1d | |
| +60 | What's up with RBC nowadays? | 25 | 2h |
Career Resources
By pure placements and the Kelley network, IU is probably better. That being said, Ohio State might have a slight edge as a better school overall since their engineering and pre-med probably blows IU out of the water. But if you're set on banking or any high finance career and are high achieving enough, I've seen people from IU break into just about anywhere in Chicago and NYC. That being said, the conversion rate is super low since Kelley is a huge program with tons of competition. I don't think setting yourself apart at OSU will be any easier than doing the same at IU. Just get after it. I know Scholars of Finance at Kelley is a decent feeder for Piper Sandler too if you don't get the IBW. Good luck.
How do you know SOF has a pipeline to piper? Bc I am tryna go to Piper and am at IU so was curious
Hey, what made you want to go to Kelley? Do you like it there? On USNews and World Report, Kelley is ranked #7 which beats out UVA, CMU, and Boston College which is crazy considering the 80% acceptance rate.
SoF has a partnership with Piper Sandler and few of the members in the club got internships over there. Its pretty solid.
Have a friend at IU and know about SOF’s founder. Essentially a feeder to Piper so if you get a good position with SOF you have a good shot at Piper NYC/Chicago/Houston I’m guessing.
SOF doesn’t have a pipeline to Piper from IU…
There are dozens of IU guys I've come across in banking. I've maybe seen two or three OSU guys (several at PE funds).
Thank you
IU
Please do not pick a school for wanting to go into IB. Sure, weight it into your decision, but choosing to go to Indiana for the IBW (or one of the other IB programs on campus now) is a HORRIBLE reason. Indiana (and I'm sure OSU by extension) has so much to offer in terms of a great school / education, some awesome people, beautiful campus (and girls)... going to a school for a chance to get into a program to be an analyst at a bank is not wise.
I went to OSU and wasn't part of fishers future and was able to get into IB with no issues. But I do think IU has a larger IB pipeline, either way, shouldn't matter as long as you put in the work.
May I hit your PM? Would like to discuss this topic. Fisher 21 grad interested in recruiting for investment banking out of T15 MBA.
Went to osu and did fisher futures. It was a great experience and super helpful. The IU banking workshop is better but probably a lot harder to get into. Really can't go wrong with either. Go Bucks!
Ohio State is way less represented in finance than Kelley.
have not been impressed with grads from either in my experience
Every single time Ohio state or IU are mentioned I see you in the replies immediately. It’s pretty strange the vitriol you have towards those schools, especially osu
Please don't go so far to say these are not targets. Optimistically, I'd consider Ohio State(considering you are in Fisher Futures) a low semi target, and Kelley IBW a low to mid semi target. Go with Kelley. Many more heads that are interested in investment banking from a pure numbers standpoint. 50+ heads in IBW vs. like 12-15 in Futures? I've seen way more variety in placement at Kelley, vs Fisher Futures which is gonna most likely yield William Blair, Lincoln. KeyBanc Capital Markets, Ducera NYC, etc, and some Citi, JP. Morgan NYC.
Current OSU student. Obviously biased. But Fisher Futures have grown a lot. The newest class is around 30 people. Placements are mostly reputable MM firms, with a couple of Bulges and sporadic EBs. It is definitely less known than IBW, which in my opinion, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Most ppl would not care if you are in Fisher Futures since they don’t even know it is a thin. whereas if you are not in IBW in Kelly, you rlly don’t have the edge compared to your peers who are in.
If you are very very determined on doing IB, going to Kelly and getting into IBW is your safer bet. But be mindful that the competition is fierce. It is like a trade school for finance. Otherwise OSU is a great option if you suddenly are not interested in IB anymore, which happen to most freshman. Plus there are people who are not in Fisher Futures breaking into EVR, JPM, WB type of banks. It is definitely possible to go anywhere from Ohio State. And you get to be a proud buckeye fan at the same time. Rlly not a bad deal.
hey! thinking of going to Fishers, if I can't get into FF would that drop it to a non-target? what is it like breaking into WS jobs without fisher futures? thanks
IBW process is really just a 3-4 month vibe check. Yes it is competitive but you would be surprised at the ## of folks who might be able to recite R&P from verbatim , high ACT score but cannot hold an interesting 20 min convo. And they usually don’t get in / place
The IBW “brand” really only matters at certain target firms. Whereas most of the street does not know the difference between the various IB workshops at IU
I attended OSU a few years back and have many IU friends. I think there are benefits of the OSU brand over IU. There are IU hardos everywhere meaning even if you get into IBW and do all the right things, you're just going to be competing against other equally as prepared IU kids for the same spots at their target banks (moelis, piper, jefferies, etc). At OSU, you are largely competing against a big pile of kids from other random state schools, of which you likely will be the most competitive candidate coming out of Futures vs. some kid from Wisconsin or Minnesota. Your bear case scenario at OSU is missing out on Futures and still getting into a KeyBanc/Citizens while at IU, missing out on IBW makes your floor much lower.
There's also a little bit of a Kelley stigma. Most kids on the street i've interacted with are very fratty and have this whacky superiority mentality but for no good reason. They all think they attended the Wharton of the Midwest... it's a little bizarre. Curious if others have noticed this. Lots of great people out there went to IU, many of which i'm friends with, but i'm telling you a lot of these kids have a weird mentality.
Also, Ohio State is just a far better overall school. Obviously, there are way more Kelley kids on street and in PE as the IBW is much more established, but futures has been growing rapidly over the past 5 years or so. If you decide you no longer want to pursue IB, Fisher actually is quite consulting focused and there is on campus recruiting for all the MBB, particularly McKinsey and their Cleveland office. Don't think IU places as well for consulting (I could be wrong). Outside of business, OSU will blow IU out of the water in every other category, so that's another thing to consider if you're a high school senior looking at alternate career paths vs finance and want flexibility.
The last thing I'll add is that OSU football/sports is truly awesome and will be something you'll get to follow the rest of your life. They say Ohio State Football runs Ohio State -> Ohio State runs the State of Ohio = Ohio State football also runs the State of Ohio. IU fans, while of course are passionate about basketball, does not have nearly the same following nationally. The Buckeye community is massive and Ohio State has a unique, growing brand in finance / academics + we have the best sports franchise in the game. What's there not to love?
In conclusion, you'll be fine from both schools. IU is like the proven UMM PE fund that consistently raises $5b funds - maybe Berkshire or something. OSU is like a growing MM PE fund with large cap aspirations, like a new $1.5b Fund II that started with $500m as a Fund I.
Could not agree more - GO BUCKS!!!
I transferred out of IU Kelley and I can vouch for this comment. IU is literally a pressure cooker with every single monkey on the street reading technicals, and getting into the IBW is extremely political and not guaranteed by any means. Even when you do get into the IBW, it doesn't stop. You have to keep competing with the same psychopaths who do get into the IBW for banks like Moelis. At the end of the day, as long as you go to a T60 school you're good for banking. Heck, even UMinn sends 3 a year to Evercore. Don't sacrifice your college career for a marginal boost in recruiting that is not guaranteed. Kelley is literally mental purgatory more or less, and college should be a lot more than that. A lot of people fully believe that they are better than other people just because they got a better offer than you, and that type of elitist mentality runs deep through selective clubs/fraternities/programs. Fully advise you to go to OSU.
Sit quisquam suscipit harum commodi excepturi quod dolorum. Quas tempora cupiditate earum. Quia et totam nemo qui quam.
Unde rerum eaque harum voluptas esse enim nulla. Assumenda aut qui optio expedita modi consectetur ut soluta. A vel eaque minima laborum.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Sit laboriosam voluptas eos. Quibusdam dolores ea non est.
Eos nesciunt velit qui quam nesciunt quasi quo. Assumenda id iusto pariatur ipsum optio doloremque. Ad impedit deserunt adipisci aut fuga.
Maiores sed praesentium ratione commodi impedit eos magnam. Beatae occaecati provident nobis rerum esse necessitatibus. Dolorum sit qui quas nesciunt. Doloribus libero perspiciatis omnis sint dolor optio autem.
Ea maiores aperiam animi. Atque neque commodi illum. Vel sunt quaerat aut eos.