Texas Undergrad Ranking
Anyone have any insight on how the Texas schools place in IB?
I'm currently looking at the following (I'm a Junior in HS):
- UT Austin
- Rice
- Baylor
- Texas Tech
- Texas A&M
- UT Dallas
- SMU
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Rice, UT Austin, SMU. Your list should end there. SMU can place well in IB if you are in the right programs at the top of Cox business school, and all of these top 3 do very well with family offices, PE shops, and other underrated gigs in their respective cities
Maybe Rice if you're talking about MBA's but see way more A&M grads in FO roles than Rice, probably self-selection due to the pools of students at each with Rice being more academic/STEM focused. But A&M has grown their IB placements astronomically in like the last 5 years.
Yeah undergrad A&M is better than rice for Houston, reverse for biz school weirdly. For Houston at least.
Do you want to be in Houston or NYC?
Don't want to rank them, but UT Austin, Rice, SMU and TAMU have generally better exits than Baylor, TTU and UTD.
Houston shouldn't be too difficult to land as long as you network and keep your grades up, but if you want NYC you'd need to start early, be in the IB-specific program at your school, and get a little lucky. If you want NYC and are competitive enough to get into a semi target or low target, I'd also look outside TX at some more NY-focused schools just to have options.
Agree mostly with other comments.
1. UT Austin - McCombs
2. Rice
3. SMU/A&M
Not really sure about SMU or A&M, but I've reached out to a people at a few firms in Houston and they all seem to have a few. These Texas schools get priority for Houston IB, especially McCombs and whatever Rice's new BBA program is.
Rice does have a new BBA program but the undergrad alumni base doesn't rival McCombs in size or spread across the country and the different verticals. If you get McCombs BHP (which you should if you get Rice) then take that and don't look back. One could argue SMU > Rice by finance alums as well due to an affluent surrounding area and the families sending their kids there (this is where their "southern Ivy" cache comes from). However by academic rigor Rice>UT>SMU, for banking placements nationwide UT>Rice>=SMU assuming Honors + Alts at SMU. Since you asked to rank all of them though:
1. UT
2. Rice/SMU
3. Texas A&M (Mays is short on resources and fills up pretty fast, apply early if you think you'll go here. Won't deny the network effect here is also as good as Rice for Houston)
4. Baylor/TCU (don't know anything about them, expensive private schools though with probably decent Houston connections)
5. Texas Tech (primarily for its size and personally knowing a few people who made it into finance from here)
6. UT Dallas -- only back office roles here
As a baylor student, Baylor is nowhere near that high
I think it’s just a list. I read it as a ranking first but saw Tech in there
Just gonna be blunt if you want NYC IB the only schools from this list that will give you a real shot are UT and Rice
SMU and A&M actually send a fair number to NYC. Not enormous, but it's a self-selecting group and those do pretty well when actually pursuing NYC IB roles.
UT Austin is the king for Houston. A&M, SMU, and Rice fall below but I barely know anyone from UTD and Baylor who made it.
For NYC, it’s only UT canfield & WSFM or bust for Texas. SMU is your second best shot but you really have to grind and be in the top 5% to make it to NYC.
Being a Texas native, I chose to go out of state for undergrad. Didn’t have the grades or score for McCombs and got better value from my out of state school compared to SMU. I would really suggest to consider semi/low out of state schools if you get in as UT admissions are a complete shit show. You’ll have an easier time to network and establish yourself for NYC recruiting.
A&M has sent 10-15 to NYC each of the past few years. Self-selecting group with most everyone from A&M wanting to stay in TX though.
Simply not true it’s only WSFM or BHP for NYC. Know at least four kids in my immediate circle (including myself) that weren’t part of either and do IB in NYC. Banking in NYC is simply not that difficult….
If you want NYC, it's basically UT or nothing. If you go to A&M or Rice it's possible, but huge long shot. Decent chance if you qualify for a diversity program and a solid candidate.For Houston, if you can get in UT's banking program, I think they have a near 100% rate or something crazy of placements. Not as familiar with that program, but it is the best in Houston no question. Next I'd put A&M and SMU on similar tiers. I'd actually lean toward A&M a bit because of sheer number of alums, not just in banking but PE, etc., plus petroleum engineers and others who get their MBA and come in as associates in Houston giving you another layer of connections which SMU won’t have outside of a few from their MBA program. If you can get in the Horizon's program you'll have great opportunities. Similar with SMU, great options, but less in total. I've heard their program is structured nicely.For Rice, they're kind of in their own niche. It's a very small school, and not a ton of people shoot for IB compared to the others on the list, but if you go there and want IB, you'll have every opportunity to go wherever you want. Rice has a kind of halo around it in Houston, and to cap off, is only 5 mins from most banks for networking. Downside is they don't have a true finance major, although I know their BBA program is new.Never met anyone personally who went to Tech in IB, but have seen 1 or 2 from TCU/Baylor, but those are exceptions. LSU sort of a dark horse as well.So to sum, UT>A&M/SMU>everyone else, but Rice could be #1. All have different cultures though so factor that in.
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as someone not from Texas, this list is hilarious
rice is the best school in Texas and it’s not even close
NY groups respect rice way more than UT
rice is on par with Vanderbilt (different scene) in terms of prestige
baylor - also Lol for that being anywhere near #3 - accepts like 60% of students
If you’re in-state - it’s Rice / UT / then SMU / TCU tied for 3rd
Those other schools on the list will keep you out of PE and have a much more difficult uphill battle
A&M is ok but viewed as less prestigious out of state (stronger alumni network in Texas than UT - arguably)
Agreed. UT people are more active on WSO so they’re hyping up their school here.
They’re more active on this forum because they’re more active on Wall Street. Not sure what sample you’re looking at but UT has better infrastructure around recruiting, more established pipelines, and -I’m willing to bet- more people sitting in good seats on the street
don't think the list was a ranking, but just a literal list.
Never met any TCU kids in banking in Houston. I'm sure it's not zero, but still.
TCU alumn here. They send about 3-4 to Houston a year on average-usually to the same 2 or 3 firms. To NYC they send like 2 people on average lol
As someone not in TX I'm surprised to see Rice and SMU at the same level. Rice is similar in prestige to Vanderbilt/Emory/Northwestern and SMU is nowhere on the radar. I believe that if a Rice student wants IB his/her chances of breaking in are higher than any other school in Texas including UT outside of BHP.
Core Houston targets are Rice, UT, SMU, plus anyone from a NYC target who conveys meaningful interest in the industry and market. A&M also has a solid pipeline.
For NY it's Rice and UT at the top by a wide margin. Rice a higher chance on average, UT by raw numbers.
Is money an issue? If your family is wealthy enough to easily afford 70k/yr a tuition, or poor enough that the cost is basically the same after financial aid, Rice is our best bet. Otherwise, you should go to UT, which is nearly as prestigious and much cheaper. SMU and Texas A&M have some people, and everything after would require a minor miracle.
IB? UT Business Honors and that’s your only option. Rice has alright consulting placement as a decent alternative. BCG recruits from there.
WSFM is better than BHP and there are many options outside of just BHP for people recruiting for IB.
That’s just not true at all. You have no idea what you’re talking about
Only go to utd for stem. Banking placement is terrible. Near non existent.
Extremely hard to break into top non-stem roles from UTD. Tech and Baylor shouldn't even be on this list if discussing IB/MBB/related.
SMU only if you're in the specific program that sends a good number of kids to IB.
Mays is getting better and better it seems.
Rice undergrad is academically more impressive but not more successful in feeding kids to IB. Solid MBB representation.
TCU is quite sub-par for IB/MBB placement. Each year I believe they generally send a few to Houston and a couple to Dallas offices
UT, SMU, A&M (in that order) would likely be your best bets for IB. Just my take
Look man. You basically got two big scenes. You got Houston (O&G) — all BBs are here. They pull from Rice, A&M, UT, SMU mostly.
In Dallas — you got Houlihan Lokey, Jeffries, Lincoln, and that’s about it. Biggest schools there are UT, SMU, TCU, A&M.
1. Rice (best school by far, new business undergrad school too) 2. UT (clear number 2) . SMU (does better than a&m) 4. dont bother (even a&m is basically a complete non target, yeah they send some but its a massive school and hard to be competitive)
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