How are these positions possible?

Hey everyone,

Just to preface, I am a senior in high school and I am planning to attend a ‘good’ school and try for a career in finance.

I was looking through profiles at some top firms like Lazard and Evercore, and found that quite literally every-other profile I clicked was of a Managing Director etc. from a ‘non-target’ school. And some of these schools were very non-target, like unheard of. I was just wondering, how is this possible? It seems like everyone stresses target schools to me, to an extreme extent, yet I’m seeing various MD’s from Pennsylvania State University and Baylor etc..

I understand that these MD’s started their careers 10-15 years ago, but have times really changed that much, to where targets matter much more now? Or is pure hard work still a viable way to break-in regardless of your school?

Thanks