I know there have been other posts that are somewhat related to this but I wanted to hear about some random schools that my fellow non-target monkeys who broke into the industry went to.
I'll start: University of Vermont - 2.9 GPA
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Alabama: 3.2 when recruiting. Yes I am a retard
Roll tide
Roll tide fuck mercer
Sounds like a fraternity treasurer, finance major, accounting or MIS minor… am I close?
Wow I am doxxed. Finance and Econ
Curious what the typical job is for a finance grad out of Bama. Seems like not much in the state except for the very small scene in Birmingham with regards to finance.
Culverhouse Investment Management Group as well as the Investment Banking academy are great. They have sent a surprising amount of kids to (GS, JPM), HL seems to have a a decent amount and even some MM HF’s lately. You can look on the respective club’s website to see placement.
However, I notice a LARGE majority of business/finance majors pursuing real estate or financial planning/advisory.
Saw Dak Prescott and Mississippi State play vs. Bama at Bryant-Denny. What an experience
Almost as good as burrow and trump. What a day (not endorsing any political party)
University of California, Santa Barbara, graduated jobless with a 3.12 GPA
High school diploma - 2.8 GPA. Working at Re/Max.
Looks like we both made it anyways then haha
BROOOO ISLA VISTA WAS LITTTTT
Miami (Fucking Ohio) - 3.9
Going MM T&S
I was born there in Oxford.
How was that? You guys go to brick?
Cincinnati 3.4
Lets go, love to see the Ohio boys making it.
UMass Amherst 3.6 now in trading FT despite what WSO says
What major did you do in Amherst?
Also went to the zoo and did trading out of undergrad a few years ago. It seems they have decent placement into FO roles now
Were you in MFIF or MEF? It seems like the vast majority of people from Umass who land front office roles were in one of the university funds.
Both are good - it doesn't matter too much. I know kids who weren't in any fund and still got placed. It provides networking opportunities more than anything
Regional no-name liberal arts school run by retards. 3.4 GPA.
Work at elite boutique. No connections.
Respect.
Is it just luck or wtf?!?
Luck and hustle
delete
Smart mofo
not that hard to get an A here lol
OP, do you consider the University of Vermont - Honors College to be non target? I know someone who was super smart in high school but did not get into any of her target schools so that is where she is going.
Companies don't typically care about honors colleges
OP here - not sure if the honors college makes a difference but one thing I will say is that not a lot of business students want to go into financial services so at least you're not competing against a ton of peers from the same school. I'd tell her to rely on the professors because a lot of them have industry expertise. I know for a fact that people get BB offers but idk if it's like 1 per year or 10 per year (I've been out of school for a while). Feel free to DM me and I can mention one professor by name who was instrumental for me.
B.S. George Washington University, kinda low GPA at 3.3 though it's good for mechanical engineering.
MBA T15 and no one cares about GPA.
You got a 720 - 740 GMAT didn’t you.
710, but who's counting.
Edit: haha there goes my anonymity.
University of Victoria (Canada)
Texas Christian University
Ha. TCU is a target compared to my large, TX state school.
Lol, that you Bobby? 🤔
Which city did you place in?
If Dallas, TCU is not a non-target...
Not Dallas
Go Frogs
University of Southern California - high GPA. Felt very non-target when I applied for jobs
How tho? I know so many USC kids working at BB's
Good GPA and good school, but I had no internships and wanted to live/work in a different country. That worked out in the end, but it was pretty difficult.
Lambda bro or Sig Chi ?
Lambda
Fight on! recent grad 3.0 in MBB lol
I'll say this. I have at least heard about all these schools without having to Google them. Not the case with my clown college.
My GPA was good though. I was poor, not stupid.
Undergrad: Samford - 2.55 GPA
Currently in my state school, part-time MBA - 3.5 GPA (should have at least a 3.6 by the end of the program)
I didn't give a shit in undergrad, but I locked down an associate role starting next summer.
That’s awesome, congrats. How did you get into an MBA program with a 2.55 GPA? Strong GMAT?
Thanks! Believe it or not, I actually didn't take a test like the GMAT or GRE (I swear this is a respectable MBA program). I actually wrote a letter explaining my readiness for the program and the admissions director ended up calling me in to interview me. I was accepted the following day, so it must have gone well.
I had good explanations for my GPA, and had a solid resume. Poor grades, but showed that I had been given a ton of increasing responsibility in a short amount of time in my company. I had to obviously work my ass off to overcome my immaturity and lack of focus in undergrad.
University at Buffalo - 3.4 gpa
Just have to get a foot in the door. After that, college / gpa disappear
Notre Dame - 3.9 GPA
Going to UMM/MF PE. just had to grind harder to compete with target kids during recruiting.
ND is a non target?
I think it's a bit complicated. In theory ND, Fordham, BYU are nontargets if we apply the OCR criterion to define target/semi/non, but alum pull way harder for each other at these schools so if you're decent at networking your chances rise compared to a typical non-target.
Notre Dame is at a minimum semi target
tier 300
.
Stfu pleb
UMass Lowell - 3.2
University of Hawaii and started career in San Francisco. I moved to the Bay Area with three other guys from UH:
- IBD at Merrill (I’m showing my age), now makes bank in Big Tech
- Law School, now a partner in Big Law
- Software Engineer now in Hong Kong in Quantitive Trading
Subsequent waves of friends/alumni still live or passed through SF and living a good life more or less. This non-target moniker is only for a select few roles - which fortunately I never felt I was out of the game because of school (real estate industry).
I always thought there’s talent in Hawaii. It’s a place people gravitate to or stay by choice or don’t know the outside. The place becomes a part of you and shapes your worldview, and you can build (or rebuild) your identity around the place, even if you are not originally from there.
Don't you miss the way of life? And the waves...
I do miss it. But I also know part of my fuzzy feelings are part of my fond memories almost a couple decades ago. That being a tourist when I visit is different than actually living there. Case in point, when my wife and I visit people make time to see us, but if we actually lived there, friends will be busy with family stuff and kids’ activities. The waves/beach, I’d say I bodyboard a lot Freshman and Sophomore, but then worked a lot and interned so that stopped. Fast forward to today, I would absolutely love to teach my young kids to bodyboard and snorkel. San Francisco has fun stuff like Great America and some other things, but miss the beach for sure.
University of Hawaii is a good value, including for out of state, and especially if you’re from a Western State, the school participates in the WUE program, tuition is like $17K (don’t quote me). If my kids don’t get into an UCLA/Univ of Washington ranked undergrad or above, definitely would encourage them to attend UH and get that Hawaii experience.
Attending Hawaii football games on the road is pretty fun. That’s what I’ll be thinking about today.
HULT. GPA 2.77 thanks to moving around a lot or work. Working to pay my tuition off at the moment.
University of Wisconsin, 3.0 GPA. No connections to industry. Won't explain how I did it in depth (who cares), but I left no stone unturned and basically just wouldn't take no for an answer. Persistence is key, my friends.
Penn State, 3.6 GPA. Had a great experience and didn't feel like that much of a non-target. Also not part of the Nittany lion fund or anything.
A school so bad and small that listing it will practically make it an easy dox :P
In all seriousness, tier 250-300ish, tiny liberal arts college. Headed into AM full time post graduation. I got my start doing alot of bullshit unpaid internships and spinning a good story.
UK Uni in the 60th ranking percentile - 3.8GPA.
Wanted to work in Wealth Management since 2015 - after getting an interview for a graduate position, the technicals were a breeze. Really liked the people I'd be working with too. Applied for c.250 roles, 2 WM interviews and 2 second rounds (accepted offer before other 2nd round). Good luck!
Texas A&M - Corpus Christi, 2.75 GPA. The reason for attending was to play D1 baseball.
Have been working in consulting for the last two years with a focus on a wide variety of CFO services (Restructuring, M&A Due-diligence, Cost Transformation, Portfolio company stand-up).
Previously worked in Corp Dev at an E&P for a year
This thread depresses me. I wasted so much time in high school to study and get into Ivy while friends goofed off. And in the end, anyone can still get into banking.
UT Dallas
UMass, 3.8 GPA
BB S&T out of undergrad
Lateraled externally to IB
Looking to hop to a L/S fund within the next few years
GED
Work release program for an associates degree
Online Bachelors
WGU MBA
So far off target I'm in another zip code. Small liberal arts school in Florida 3.2 GPA.
Hunter College 3.8
BB
Baruch 3.0
MF Aso1 offer in hand
Can you pm. Cornell student here.
OP wtf 2.9 from Vermont. What’s your feel good story about how you impressed the CEO of the Mercantile Exchange while sharing a cab ride to the airport at 21 (this is Gary Cohn’s and he never fucking shut up about it). It’s obviously nowhere near as cool as this since we’re not in the 80s but just curious what the punchline is
OP here - Nothing as cool as that haha. Without giving too much away since I'm in a small group, I was an athlete in college and an Army Officer after graduation so I imagine that had to help.
University of Arkansas - 3.3 GPA
majors are accounting and finance
charming personality + luck got me a job
WOO PIG mane. What’s the size of the bank that you’re at now?
JMU
Good for partying, that's about it
Xxx
Purdue University - 3.8 GPA
MM IB
Didn’t formally graduate HS, skipped first two years of college (was enrolled but didn’t go to class) at a no name Wisconsin state school. Graduated University of MN - 3.6 GPA in finance. Manager Corp fin team few years out of school. Cream rises
>from wisconsin
>unsolicited dairy-based idiom
story checks out
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign 3.7
UIUC is a semi target lol
The Big Ten schools are so interesting to me.
I consider U of Illinois/U of Iowa/U of Indiana/Penn State as really solid schools even though they aren’t targets (I guess IU/UIUC is a semi target in Chicago).
Deleted
Shanghai rankings? Are you from China?
No sir but I've spent time there.
.
Just out of curiosity, my SO is about to transfer there. How was their finance program for you?
The finance program is not that great, many professors that teach the courses have been retirees of the finance industry, hence, they teach outdated material. However, they offer an investment management certificate (can be done with your Finance major) but it's extra workload. The certificate program prepares you to take CFA exam with the courses and many students get placed in RE, local boutique shops, and MM firms. I personally didn't do this program bc I had offers early on in my undergrad through buying 3rd party courses like this website.
So my overall opinion, finance program isn't great unless you do the investment management program with it, which is a lot of work but it's well worth it bc you are guaranteed an internship in the higher finance side. Other than that, most finance grads end up in low finance jobs/back office jobs or those who succeed put in the extra effort outside of class.
.
Northern Arizona University-- I couldn't even make it into ASU. Made up for it with a higher GPA (3.74) and just accepted an offer $20k higher than I expected. Go Jacks
I am K-Mart non-Target
But I wish I were Wal-Mart. Because Wal-Mart and K-Mart started in the same year, but K-Mart had external funding and had like a million stores when Wal-Mart had a few dozen. And now Wal-Mart has many many stores and K-Mart is defunct.
But a man can not change his fate. I am K-Mart. Hear me roar.
Harvard - 3.8
University of Delaware - 3.6. High School - 2.8. Roll Hens.
Tulane 3.9
Lehigh - 3.5 gpa
Non-target.
Music Major (3.8).
Still a senior, but have three buy side offers (early-stage VC/GE/PE). Not sure what I'm gonna do yet (nothing exploding) but networking, hustle, and telling a compelling personal story are what worked for me.
would be interested to hear ur whole story in a separate post
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