Unofficial 2020 Public School Tiers for IB Placement
Tier 1: 80+ to IB with 60%+ going to BB/EB - Michigan, Virginia, UC Berkeley
Tier 2a: 65+ to IB with 40%+ going to BB/EB – Texas, UNC, Indiana Tier 2b: 40+ to IB with 40%+ going to BB/EB – UCLA
Tier 3: 40+ to IB with 25%+ going to BB/EB – Wisconsin, Illinois, Penn State, Ohio State
Tier 4: 25+ to IB with 15%+ going to BB/EB – Florida, Georgia, Rutgers, South Carolina
Tier 5: 15+ to IB with 10%+ going to BB/EB – Iowa, Minnesota, Maryland, UCSB, Washington, Alabama, Michigan State, Arizona St, Arizona, Georgia Tech, Texas A&M, Miami (OH), Baruch
There’s a lot of posts from high school seniors asking whether individual schools send kids to IB. I was bored and thought a post that compiles all the top public schools would be cool to show how cheap in-state options place for IB if one can’t make it or afford to go to a top private school. This is NOT a ranking because obviously there’s other things to consider including school size, interest in IB, level of competition, specific programs, existence of a business school, and prestige. For example, Georgia Tech is in the same tier as Alabama because similar numbers to IB but is a much better school than Alabama – no offense. I’m a numbers guy so I thought this was the most objective way to put them into tiers and show presence on the Street, while avoiding pointless squabbling.
Rules: A school has to meet both the quantity and quality of placement thresholds because Goldman IB is clearly better than a no-name boutique. Also, quantity is important because a school that sends 100% to BBs isn’t that great if only 5/700 people make it to IB. I put some work into this and did my best but let me know your thoughts and I can change it if I got a school’s numbers wrong or need to add a school. (IB ONLY. Not including S&T, ER, Corporate Banking, or Middle/Back Office)
Which banks are you defining to be BB/EB? What was your decision for RBC/WF/UBS/DB and other banks on the border between BB/MM?
This is false - UCLA sends only about 30 kids into IB a year.
I saw found a surprising amount on LinkedIn, there’s some that end up at smaller boutiques in LA as well, but I’ll drop it down 1
Lmao they really just place this much, are you looking at amount in each year? Or total amount of bankers that there currently is rn - idek why you're wasting your time doing this
UCLA has strong placement, just not a ton of kids are gunning for banking. Off the top of my head kids have went to GS/MS/JPM/Evercore/PJT/etc. It's a strong West Coast target.
Yeah majority of the 30ish kids that do get offers are BB/EB and top MMs, but the amount of kids that do end up going into IB/S&T/other high finance roles is surprisingly low considering how high they rank. I think it's their location that really limits them and a lack of kids interested in heading to NYC where majority of spots are at.
I know UCLA sends majority of their business-interested kids to Big 4 back office stuff like audit and risk - kinda sucks that out of 1500 business-interested students in each class, only 30ish make it to high finance roles...
UCLA doesn't have an undergrad b-school, so maybe that's why numbers are low. However, 1500 business-interested students per class is actually a lot higher than I thought. Are none of the other 1400+ students interested in making six figures out of school? Even if they can't get a BB/EB, there's lots of MMs out there. I would think at least 20 or so out of that would land up in mid, lower MMs, or boutiques in LA through connections in the area.
As someone who goes to UCLA, this is the truth lol. There's a lot of MMs out there but kids just don't place because they don't get into any of the finance/consulting clubs so they usually get wrecked in terms of resume or not knowing any of their technicals because they have no guidance usually. Most kids don't even know what investment banking or other high finance jobs are until their 3rd year in college when it's too late, that's why they all go to audit lmao. UCLA itself doesn't do too hot of a job itself educating its students with a sh*t career center. The local boutiques' analysts in the area generally do not have UCLA analysts, and the number is insignificant. So plenty of students are interested in making six figures, but they're just mainly not cut out for it because their resumes can't compare to the top 30ish kids at LA with stacked af resumes.
those clubs are so dumb - they really don't teach a lot apart from how to be a saddo at school - sad that good kids dont get good opps
Do you know how competitive it is to get into the Undergraduate Business Society? # who apply and # who get in? According to this, it looks like UBS places 20 kids to amazing IB spots. It also says 300 kids attend the IB Night, so there does seem to be a high amount of interest.
https://www.uclaubsbruins.com/investment-banking-events
Although, I see UBS consists of more than just IB, so harder to compare to other IB programs.
UBS has an IB workshop that takes only 20 kids (out of 100+ that apply), and sends p much everyone in the workshop into top firms (mainly West Coast, unless they're a girl or diversity candidate, then they can head to NYC). UCLA also has another program called Sharpe Fellows for IB that takes about 20 kids (there's like ~90% crossover with the Workshop), and there's a few other kids that break into IB or other high finance roles without being in Workshop or Sharpe Fellows, but generally, those other kids are also those that were in one of the finance/consulting clubs and just didn't happen to get into IB Workshop. Kids who are shooting for S&T or CorpFin at like, say Microsoft, have no benefit from the Workshop or the Sharpe Fellow program.
I love love LOVE that they decided to call it UBS
Georgia Tech absolutely does not send that many to banking.
Ok, I’ll drop them down to Tier 5
UCSB doesn't really place for IB at all, less than 10 kids for sure.
Agreed, it's been between 2 and 5 every year for the past decade.
How does UVA have 90+? No way
I saw a ton on LinkedIn but I’ll lower my numbers a little
Ohio state places more than Illinois and Wisconsin, about the same as penn state although penn state has much higher % of BB.
Rutgers only sends about 7-10 kids a year to IB
I was generous with Rutgers and Baruch because I figured some would go to smaller boutiques in NYC, but I’ll drop them to Tier 5 actaully
Michigan places 100+, towards 120 per year
Yeah, it looks like Michigan, Virginia, and Cal get lights out placement at basically every bank
I'd say that for baruch the absolute number going into IB is definitely higher (due to no-name shops and huge student body) but the % going to EB/BB is probably accurate (almost no Baruch kids go to EB due to lack of connections/network from baruch) However, there are a bunch of baruch kids that get into banks like RBC and BMO (recruits on campus)- and im not considering RBC a BB otherwise the % would be much higher than your quoted 10%)
For BBs baruch some kids will land BAML/JPM/GS if they grind in networking and join the top clubs on campus
For EBs I have seen some kids go to Moelis, Greenhill, Centerview, and Evercore (albeit in very low numbers)
UCLA is very misplaced - the no 1 public school in the country does not place as well as UNC/Indiana? I get that a school like that has alot of people who go into consulting/corp roles; but tier 3? thats not right - perhaps tier 1.5 no?
I had it at Tier 2 but the commenter above complained, take it up with him. I know the students that want to do IB, place amazing but since UCLA doesn't have a undergrad b-school, it doesn't pump out the same numbers like Ross
overall you did a pretty good job and you cant please everyone :)
UNC places better than UCLA for sure. Indiana does as well but only for those in IB bootcamp
Outside of the Investment Banking Workshop, they usually send about 10-20 to IB. Albeit, mostly to MM banks and a few BB's.
Rutgers I would say tier 4
We have usually 20-25 kids go to IB every year from all three campuses. Whether it's BB/EB/MM or even smaller botiques!
..so tier 5
i would say tier 4, its been increasing exponentially as well. We had around 25-30 kids
UC Berkeley does not belong in tier 1.
You have no clue what you're talking about
Weird because I attend cal, we literally do not send 80+ to BB/EB
The OP is correct in his response. For SF and specifically tech coverage SF, Berkeley is one of the top recruited schools (I'd argue its #1 for SF offices but that's group and bank dependent). Like the OP said there are also a lot of people at Cal who go to boutiques and MM that you probably don't notice are in IB.
Can confirm.
UCLA definitely belongs in at least tier 2
I gave UCLA tier 2 and the UCLA kids above refused, maybe they need their own tier
Watch your mouth about Stifel
Didn't mean anything by it, I'll change it
Lol I was kidding it's obviously way better to go to Goldman than it is Stifel.
Stifel sucks
I go to Ohio state and we definitely should be in tier 3 category with PSU and Wisco. Futures places 25 kids + another 15 outside the program that go to MM/LMM and a few BBs from the honors programs
Ok, I'll move it up
Thank you Michigan alumni for the MS. What I said is accurate, your choice to believe it
Hey I’m considering osu and had some questions. Could you pm me?
it definitely feels weird seeing a school like Georgia tech in tier 5 but I guess it makes sense
Indiana is the most overrated school
This is just not true. Second most placements in the Big Ten behind Michigan.
The Big Ten actually does suprisingly well and has great depth in terms of sending kids into IB. Michigan at #1, 6 of the top 11, and 11 total on this list. Has Northwestern as well but it's private. Dominates the Pac12, Big12, and SEC.
So more placements than Northwestern? You’re out of your mind. Also it’s one thing to look at gross placements it’s another thing to look at quality of bank and success rate of those looking to get into IB
This is getting absolutely ridiculous, all of you incoming interns trying to flex in every post on WSO. Chill tf out, once you break in nobody gives a fuck.
The big NE public school I go to is def tier 5 from the placements I've observed but I'm not too comfortable with sharing what school I go to lol
same dude
two additions
UCLA>UNC
UCLA for sure has more like 50-70% going to BB/EB - the only kids that are really interested in banking go for it and land at the top firms
According to their website, 300 people show up to Investment Banking Night and the commenter above says 100+ apply to the Investment Banking Workshop, so looks like there are more kids interested but just don’t get in.
UNC >>>> UCLA for IB recruiting.
UCLA is a better school overall but west coast just means less slots.
UCLA is far and away better than Indiana and it’s not close
This whole thread is a perfect representation of why public schools suck
Nice to see UNC up there, often slept on in this forum cuz most of the college kids commenting haven’t been to the school or applied out of high school
Would probably throw UConn in Tier 5 too
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