48 Comments
 

half-decent fratty southern school...

decent amount of mid/back office kids who will swarm Manhattan with their plaid shorts in the summer

very few in IBD. From my impression, the majority of alums stay regional in south/midwest

 
Solidarityhalf-decent fratty southern school...

decent amount of mid/back office kids who will swarm Manhattan with their plaid shorts in the summer

very few in IBD. From my impression, the majority of alums stay regional in south/midwest

You're right about the fact that many stay in the south, but few Wake Forest grads go to the midwest.

There are over 1,000 alumni in financial services in NYC from Wake, to answer ops question.

Regardless of location, the focus on recruitment there is front office. There is, to the best of my knowledge, no recruitment for back office, and very little middle office either. I think the Charlotte banks mainly go to the state schools to fill these rolls.

 

Wanted to get an update in 9/2017. Per Linkedin there are plenty of people working at BBs (GS, JPM, MS, CS, Citi) in NY. Of course they still have many in Charlotte (BOA, Wells). Based on their titles they are all over the place including IBD (some associates, analysts, lots of interns which will lead to hires,etc.) Is Wake Forest becoming better known on the street? Curious because my son is in undergrad and will likely steer towards finance.

 

Hey there, I’m a graduate of the Business School at Wake and to answer your question: yes. Many BB’s from both NYC and Charlotte even come on campus to recruit. If the student gets good grades and networks effectively while doing proper research on the role, he/she will be fine. The combination of business courses with the liberal arts is also a huge differentiator because it makes students even more engaging candidates.

 
Best Response

What is considered heavily recruited? Wake is a small school. Business school has about 250 per class. About half in finance. Last yr, out of 115 finance majors, 59 accepted bank jobs (per their first destination report - they actually have a spreadsheet on their website that accounts for every kid, where they work, role, etc.) Many of them are analysts and many represented by BBs.

I think roughly 50% actually getting banking jobs is pretty strong. So is the gross number considered light or is it the percentage? In reality, don't know exact function or group.

 

Actually, Wake Forest is well represented on the street considering its size. Alums are at every BB and top boutique firms.

Also, James Woolery, a Wake alum, was named co-head of J.P. Morgan's North America M&A....

 

Wake is actually pretty well represented in IB at Bank of America and Wells Fargo, as well as the Charlotte, Atlanta, and Virginia MM firms. There aren't a ton of Wake Forest alums in NYC, but they're out there, just not in the same numbers as you'll see UNC or Duke grads (though Wake is smaller population wise). I'd say it's definitely a decent option - their Calloway undergrad business school has taken #1 in BusinessWeek's "academic quality" ranking for like 4 years in a row or something crazy.

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 
boutiquebank4lifewake forest is the harvard of the town of wake forest

You're such an asshole, but this made me laugh out loud.

Hi, Eric Stratton, rush chairman, damn glad to meet you.
 
Otter.
boutiquebank4lifewake forest is the harvard of the town of wake forest

You're such an asshole, but this made me laugh out loud.

yeah, except Wake Forest is in Winston-Salem....

Wake is a really top-notch undergrad business school, and for its size, it places pretty well onto Wall Street. There are only like 5,000 undergrads total, and I think like 200-250 kids in each undergrad b-school class, so its size really holds it back if you're talking about the volume of Wake Forest bankers. Obviously, much more heavily represented in Charlotte and the southeast, than NYC, but you'll find their grads sprinkled around the street.

Most Wake grads I've met in banking have been really good. Quantity over quality.

 

I know a couple of Wake Forest grads who ended up with absolutely amazing PE offers a year or two out of undergrad - but they are definitely the exception. We actually talked about this extensively. It's not like at a target where your friends all pour into IBD/PE and you can easily find alumni to network with during interviews. You have to stand out and have the skills, prove yourself, etc.

 

MS in Accounting is not likely to get you there - career services places a ton of effort placing at Big 4s.

MM IB -> Corporate Development -> Strategic Finance
 

Yes. Graduated in '10.

I'm not in banking (working on this).

Need more info.

"For I am a sinner in the hands of an angry God. Bloody Mary full of vodka, blessed are you among cocktails. Pray for me now and at the hour of my death, which I hope is soon. Amen."
 

Yes, there is actually a small but well placed WFU alumni base in finance. Banking and PE mostly, haven't run across very many (if any) traders. It's also a very tight group it seems - the Wake guy in my office always has one or two resumes from WF grads whenever we're hiring.

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

Can anyone speak for the quality of WFU's management masters program?

"There are only two opinions in this world: Mine and the wrong one." -Jeremy Clarkson
 

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