Hello Fellow Monkeys (and Baboons to some of you...),
Why is there such a stigma in the IB/PE/AM industries for those who have not graduated from an ivy league or extremely well-respected school? If a lesser university has an excellent business and economics school and the students essentially are learning the same concepts at the same intensity, why do recruiters and hiring managers (especially at the BB and middle market levels) deny applicants solely based on their university? In my finance program, the students' intelligence is as great or greater than students at top universities (based on all the peers I have that went ivy league). Of course, there are not a lot less students in my classes that want to take the IB/PE routes, but the individuals who do definitely have the capacity to excel and I would argue have much higher work ethics because they feel they have something to prove to the industry and their superiors coming from a "lesser" university.
Think about it like this. Say you have 2 similar applicants: Same GPA, Test Scores, Prior Internships but one is at a Target whereas the other is at a Non-Target. Who would you choose?
Sure perhaps the one at the Non-Target has a higher work ethic, but how can you know this? This is really a signaling problem. The fact that a student went to a Target often signals some latent factor (ex. work ethic that got them into the Target school, etc) that can't easily be measured/compared across candidates.
I agree with you and can see how the work ethic factor shown in high school got them into that particular university. Therefore, how would you break through this stigma and show that you hold the intelligence needed and have an outstanding work ethic and ambition pre-interview? I am always good once I get to the interview because I can sit down and show my skill set and how ambitious I am, but what makes an individual stand out to a recruiter when they are flipping through hundreds of applications?
Networking and having relevant work experience is the only thing you can do to break that barrier
Assumenda illum sit minus reprehenderit dignissimos sint est nam. Cupiditate autem quidem ex esse ea consectetur tempore.
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