Comprehensive List of Target Schools for Investment Banking
For high schoolers interested in pursuing careers on Wall Street, school selection is extremely important. The majority of recruiting that happens for Wall Street banks occurs at what are called “target schools.”
investment banking target School Definition
Target schools are the schools that banks actively plan to recruit students from. These schools will often have on campus recruiting which mean that there will be networking sessions and interviews that occur at the university.
2017 Bulge Bracket Banks – Target Schools
Generally speaking, target schools are ivy league or ivy league equivalent schools but in recent years prestigious state schools have been improving their representation at banks making these schools a good alternative to the Ivy League.
According the WSO Investment Banking Industry Report, we have found the top ten target schools in 2017 to be:
- University of Pennsylvania
- New York University
- Harvard University
- University of Cambridge
- Cornell University
- The University of Texas at Austin
- Columbia University
- Duke University
- University of Chicago
- University of Michigan
These top 10 schools represent ~22% of all recruitment and hiring of bulge bracket banks in 2017.
The below picture, a screen shot from the WSO Investment Banking University Report shows the percentage of the recruiting class that comes from each school. You can find out about the recruitment from various schools in the report.
However, there are many other universities that make up the remaining 78% of all bulge bracket bank hires. Some other notable universities include:
- Yale University
- University of Cambridge
- University of Virginia (UVA)
- Boston College
- Duke University
- UCLA
- London School of Economics
- Princeton University
- Georgetown
- Northwestern University
- Arizona State University
- Brigham Young University
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- Penn State University
These firms all place well on Wall Street and are targets at particular firms. For example – Penn State is a target school at Bank of America Merrill Lynch but not at JP Morgan. This is not just true for non-ivy league schools. WSO’s research indicates that Harvard, UPenn, NYU, and Duke were the only schools in the top ten listed schools that were targeted by all big banks. You can read more about this statistic in the WSO industry report.
2017 Boutique Bank – Target Schools
While perspective bankers often focus on the JP Morgan and Bank of Americas of the world, there are many other banks looking to hire quality undergraduate candidates. Some of these other notable banks include Houlihan Lokey, Lazard, HSBC, SunTrust, Evercore, BMO, Piper Jaffray, RBC, Moelis, Jefferies, Macquarie, and Rothschild to name a few.
Some of these firms have a more regional focus and also look to other schools aside from those mentioned. Some of the schools targeted by these firms include:
- University of Western Ontario
- Indiana University
- Vanderbilt University
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of Southern California, USC
- UCLA
- Dartmouth
- University of Illinois at Urbana
- University of Waterloo
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
This list is by no means exhaustive and you can find more about university placement onto Wall Street through the WSO Investment Banking University Report.
Learn More About A Career In Investment Banking In WSO
- Investment Banking Interview: Walk me through a DCF
- How to Explain that I Didn't Get Return Offer in Interviews
- How To Correctly Insert Future Internship/Position Into Resumehttps://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/how-to-correctly-insert-future-internshipposition-into-resume
Want to Learn More About Investment Banking Recruiting?
The Investment Banking University Recruiting Report shares 7 key takeaways based partially on the data discussed above and sheds light on the schools that banks are recruiting from. This is an extremely helpful resource when looking to determine which schools to apply to.
I think Ivy's, Stanford, Duke, NYU, UVA, UMichigan are all safe bets for recruiting opportunities (not sure about MIT). UChicago and Northwestern are also decent. Rest depend on the firm
Top target: Harvard, Upenn, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, MIT, Duke, Stanford, Darthmouth, Brown
Second target: UChicago, NYU, Michigan, Northwestern, Williams, and so on
caveat:Tried to put this roughly in order and include the huge ones but i'm not in the mood to give an actual 'comprehensive list'...
Basically, its a straight prestige ranking with a few differentiating factors. Ex: Upenn is higher than the rest of the iveys except Harvard only due to factoring in Wharton. Stanford isn't as high due to being on the West Coast and the fact that students there are not quite as IB-hyped as east-coasters.
Go to the most prestigious school you can if you're determined to go into ib.
P.S. Not to attack you personally but I find it sad that someone who hasn't gotten into college yet is already determined to be a banker. You should at least get into college before you're corrupted by greed and all that.
Maybe banking is becoming like medicine or law now. Pretty soon 8 year olds will all want to be bankers.
i know this post is dated 07/01/08 but holy fuck dude that PS had me crying lmfao
You're saying that Yale and NYU are more sought after than Columbia by BB? Your info is definitely inaccurate
That was 11 years ago lmao
you have things a bit mixed up (at least by this year's placements). Top: Wharton, Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Cornell, Duke, NYU, Stanford, Columbia, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth then there are the rest. its mainly dependent on the networks at the individual banks but these are the top ones, roughly in order though not exact.
they basically get cut first when there's a downturn. plus, you're expected to bullshit 'internships' at banks during the year to be competitive. basically, getting coffee. with every single person there gunning for investment banking, 'placement' is fuzzy
also, brown? uh. i think some places skip them altogether (at least we did)
Agreed. In the end, the reason why schools become "target" school is because they have strong alum representation and great yields from offers to acceptances. One of the non-BB non-U.S. banks recently dropped my alma mater (as classified above a "supreme" target) from their 'target' school list simply because they were only able to convert 1 out of 7 or 8 offers into accepts.
although i'm sure it differs from bank to bank, mine even "tiers" out the different levels of target-ness. So we have "core", "targeted", "reference", "non-targets" and "special" (study abroads and SEO is lumped here). Certain schools this year fell from "core" to "targeted", whatever that means. Basically, I think it's like the recruiting efforts are just halved but they definitely still interview. They just might not do on-campus presentations often/workshops/etc.
How do non targets make their way into the hiring picture?
How much of a target is Northwestern?
I've noticed that its included on some lists but not others.
It's a nice target.
Edit: God I just realized I replied to a 2008 post, sorry.
The NYU comment is simply not true. every bank goes there, and students get placed in everything from GS to Lazard (people I know). It is very much so a "target" school.
I am not an alumni and have no bias.
Though I will agree about the need for externships during the year. One of the benefits (or drawbacks) about going to school in the city. Some people will do them, so o remain competitive you should to. It is def. not required though.
If you go to Northwestern, have a good GPA, add some decent ECs and internships, you'll have no problem finding a job at a bank. Maybe not BB or maybe you have to work in Chicago instead of NYC, but its a quality school nonetheless. Plus they have Big 10 sports and it's 5x more fun than UChicago, if you are thinking of going to one of those schools. UChicago is a dead zone for fun and good looking women.
All the BB's recruit at NU, so id say its defnitely a target. But there are significantly less NU grads getting offers for BB IB in NYC. For Chicago banks, NU/UChicago are golden... despite UChi being more highly ranked these days, I think they are equally well-regarded in terms of IB recruitment across the board. Undoubtedly, NU people are more laid back and easier to get along with than your average UChi weirdo.
Fact: NYU has the 4th most interns at GS firmwide out of any school. So you basically are a fucking idiot
Of course NYU has an enormous amount of interns firmwide. Stern is a decent accounting school and it's 15 minutes away from headquarters/ 30 minutes away from Jersey City. So it places a lot of people in controllers or other groups in federation (non-revenue generating).
I've never met anyone from NYU with so much school spirit....
Wow... that escalated quickly...
NEVER lose your BlackBerry www.convisoft.com
Fact: Bears eat beets.
Stern seems to get a lot of hate on this board. Not sure why. I'll be going to NYU in the Fall, but I just transferred in so I really don't know why it has a less than great reputation. Any comments why?
Brown is NOT a top target, it is the lowest of the Ivys. Arguably it should not even be an Ivy.
Stern is not that overrated and during a downturn it is not the first one cut. It is very seldom do companies cut schools for recruiting.
The Ivy League is an athletic conference-nothing less, nothing more.
Still pissed about your rejection?
________________________________________ø__________________________________________ "Now that my friend is a clear cut case of him or me. And you best believe it ain't gonna be me."
What type of Bear is best?
To include Cornell but not UofM-Ross is a crime. You're basically saying BSC didn't have that bad of a year.
Seriously though - all the Ivy Leagues, Stanford, Northwestern/UChicago are great.
For state schools once you get past UM-Ross, UVA, and Cal-Berk, the drop off is significant.
________________________________________ø__________________________________________ "Now that my friend is a clear cut case of him or me. And you best believe it ain't gonna be me."
This may sound like an obvious question. But are these target schools for undergrad or MBA? Thanks
undergrad. all target undergrads have "target" (M7) MBAs as well
i think you misunderstood... im pretty sure tbroker didnt get rejected anywhere :-) and he's right about brown/cornell being "lesser" ivies, that's common knowledge.
How do you know where the fuck this dude did or didn't get rejected from?! Quit the dick riding for five minutes and realize how stupid you sound.
I don't give a shit about where you rank these schools, but when you say some dumb shit like "they shouldn't even be considered Ivy league," you're going to be called out on it.
________________________________________ø__________________________________________ "Now that my friend is a clear cut case of him or me. And you best believe it ain't gonna be me."
Does it matter if you have a non target undergrad but manage to get into a target grad school?
MBA business schools ">M7 - I've seen this term thrown around; what does it mean?
MBA business schools ">M7 = Magnificent 7
It consists of the following graduate business schools: Harvard Stanford Penn (Wharton) MIT (Sloan) Columbia Northwestern (Kellogg) Chicago
Apparently the deans of these seven business schools meet on a recurring basis.
Brown is not good for IB, unless maybe lots of kids turn offers down to go to San Fran and hippy out for a while
Thanks pedigreed monkey for answering my question.
What is the general path that someone would follow in order to get into IB? At what point in college would they try intern, what is the position that people try gun for to start off in the industry, do most people go from completing their undergrad right into starting their MBA etc.? Thanks
Get into the best school you can thats closest to New York and I think you will be fine
Just my two sense, all of the ivies are great, I don't know about all the criticizing of 'lesser ivies' as any of them will give you great chances at IB/consulting etc...
Some of them might be less recruited, say Brown, but probably because less people from the school intend to do ib, and from what I know, I'd say it is even easier to get into IB from a school like that since you're not competing with as many from your own school and the recruiters will still think well of you (especially with the Ivy pedigree, if they have one of their own)
So please don't criticize Cornell or Brown because they are school with sub 20% acceptance nowadays I believe... hell eh.
What about Illinois? Is that no longer a semi-target college?
Any top 15 school is good
Ivies Stanford Duke MIT NU Chicago (ugh...) West Point (after military service) Other such schools
What about the Kelley school of business at IU
To speak subjectively, I believe NYU students stand to benefit from the market downturn. While banks across the board are cutting costs by not racking up exorbitant travel expenses to visit schools such as Duke and Cornell, many find NYU a mere subway ride away. This year, we've had a number of BB, pretty much every single top boutique, and even a couple top buyout funds come to campus. I'll acknowledge that during a good year, the top targets (a la Harvard/Wharton) will send a greater absolute number of people into front office positions, but during a down year such as 2008, NYU's proximity to many a company's headquarters positions it attractively with regards to campus recruiting.
IDK if its a sleeper but I know Boston College sends atleast 15 to the street at BB's
Williams/Amherst should be included on the list of target schools, not semi-target.
I can only speak for one of the two, but at that school the list of BB's recruiting on campus for FT/SA were:
Morgan Stanley Goldman Sachs JP Morgan Citi Barclays DB Wells Fargo Lazard (Not BB, but top boutique)
In addition there were a number of MM and boutique banks on campus as well as other financial service companies (hedge funds, etc). Also, it is relatively easy to break into the three BB's that don't come to campus (UBS, CS, BAML) there are atleast 2 kids going to these firms every year by utilizing the alumni network.
It is relatively easy to secure a position coming from Amherst/Williams because the pool of candidates is very small (small schools combined with a small number of people interested in finance). The lack of competition coupled with an extremely strong and supportive alumni network make these two schools great choices for breaking into banking.
Example: A top tier (GS/MS/JPM) firm came to campus and explained that they would take at least 1-2 interns from the school (Amherst/Williams) and only interviewed 12 people on campus. 1 or 2 out of 12 aint bad odds...
It might be considered bad odds if that means hundreds of kids get 12 spots which lead to 1 or 2 out of hundreds
That's the point, there aren't hundreds of kids. If you go to an undergrad b-school then you're going to be competing against 100 kids from your school for the 12 first round on campus interview spots. At these schools you're competing against... 25 for those 12 interview spots?
SA hopeful is right, a top LAC is pretty good for recruitmen too. I know Williams/Amherst/Pomona/Claremont get some action and many kids there are not interested in finance, which is good for competition sakes.
Meanwhile, I know Stern sends a good amount of kids but Stern is HUGE. Plus you are competing against basically everyone who wants a BB front office job and I know for a fact many are disappointed.
You have to make sure IB is something that you really want to do because if you end up in a target school the competition will be intense. Most BB interview around 24 candidates at my school but over 200 people drop for those positions, half of whom has relevant internships during sophomore year and/or 3.8+ GPAs.
I knew these kids since freshmen year, every major decision they make is geared toward banking or S&T, by the time they are juniors even their breath begins to smell like a pitchbook. If you are SURE that this is something you want then prepare to rush through the crowd with a tunnel vision, and you will most likely succeed, regardless of which target or semi-target you choose.
Is Carnegie Mellon's Undergraduate Tepper School of Business a target school?
This thread has been done to death.
ND?? Troll.
Here is the proof:
http://bx.businessweek.com/business-school-rankings/view?url=http%3A%2F…
That's your proof? You're a joke and a half. If ND sends more kids to top firms than Harvard, I think that would be common knowledge. Furthermore, they're placement ranking is the same a a bunch of schools (a+)
Go on a companies career website and see what schools they go to during recruiting seasons.
ND is the best. Look, let us think about this logically shall we. You guys all say that Wharton has the number one business placemnet, even beating Harvard. So then, if ND beats Wharton, then it obviously beats Harvard, Yale, Princeton and like schools also based on YOUR "facts"
ND has been proven to be better than MIT Sloan, Haas, Wharton, and Stern.
ND has the No. 1 Student satisfaction and it burried Sloan and Wharton and Haas in sending kids to the top jobs (Big 4 Accounting firms). Harvard's placement to PWC does not even TOUCH ND's.
ND is no.5 on the recuiter surver, only a handfull of school: Seattle (Albers), Hawaii (Shidler), MIT (Sloan), and ND's closest rival Virginia (McIntire) beat it. But it beats out Wharton, Stern, and Haas!
So Shut up ! You obviously have no idea what you are tlaking about. Perhaps you should consider transferring to ND from Harvard or wherever you are; who knows, you may get lucky and get it. Fighting Irish !!!
Don't take my word for it either! The most reputable business magazine on earth, Businessweek, is the one that compiled these rankings not me. Go here to check them out (You will see everything I said above is accurate):
http://bx.businessweek.com/business-school-rankings/view?url=http%3A%2F…
[quote=empirestate]ND is the best. Look, let us think about this logically shall we. You guys all say that Wharton has the number one business placemnet, even beating Harvard. So then, if ND beats Wharton, then it obviously beats Harvard, Yale, Princeton and like schools also based on YOUR "facts"
ND has been proven to be better than MIT Sloan, Haas, Wharton, and Stern.
ND has the No. 1 Student satisfaction and it burried Sloan and Wharton and Haas in sending kids to the top jobs (Big 4 Accounting firms). Harvard's placement to PWC does not even TOUCH ND's.
ND is no.5 on the recuiter surver, only a handfull of school: Seattle (Albers), Hawaii (Shidler), MIT (Sloan), and ND's closest rival Virginia (McIntire) beat it. But it beats out Wharton, Stern, and Haas!
So Shut up ! You obviously have no idea what you are tlaking about. Perhaps you should consider transferring to ND from Harvard or wherever you are; who knows, you may get lucky and get it. Fighting Irish !!!
Don't take my word for it either! The most reputable business magazine on earth, Businessweek, is the one that compiled these rankings not me. Go here to check them out (You will see everything I said above is accurate):
http://bx.businessweek.com/business-school-rankings/view?url=http%3A%2F…]
Never in my life have I witness such an immature, little baby such as yourself. Where are your comprehension skills? You started this pissing match in an old thread and I see you revive a month old thread just to prove you misguided point. Business week is not ranking schools based on target or anything else. It is based on student rankings. ND students are very happy with their school. That is all this is saying.
Rankings change year to year and are arbitrary and worthless. Let me give you some advice, learn to relax and get over yourself. Finance is a small world with many individuals in it. One day you might get an interview with someone that went to ND or any other variety of schools. Stop worrying about where your school ranks or how this school is better than the next and try judging people based on their efforts and achievements.
OK so it's a troll, but it is mildly amusing at points.
That guy is definitely an ND Troll.
He is being sarcastic. He says he goes to Haas, but I think he goes to Wharton. He was bitching in another thread about how ridiculous the rankings are, etc. Just doesn't understand that not everyone wants IBanking and how the rankings are compiled. End of the day who cares where you go to school.
People like this kid are going to have serious issues working under someone who didn't go to a "target". He will probably refuse to take orders from the UMich associate on his 1st day or work because someone so unworthy doesn't have the right to order a target kid around. Really bad mindset to have.