2025-26 Target Tier List for IB/PE
God Tier: Harvard, Wharton, MIT
Super Target: Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Columbia, Penn
Top Target: UChicago, Duke, Dartmouth, Brown, Northwestern
Target: Cornell, Michigan, Notre Dame, UVA, Georgetown, Stern
Semi-target: UCB, Vandy, USC, Emory, WashU, UT, UNC, JHU, IU
lol who cares
In no world is northwestern/brown above Mich Ross brother
but they clearly are….nobody is picking michigan over an ivy and a t10. michigan copers will always resort to “but look at our placement numbers” without understanding that michigan has 20 times the number of kids that recruit from brown and northwestern, with far lower average placement quality and worse top buyside placement than both. michigan isnt prestigious. sorry.
I really love how people think IB target schools and US News T10 are the same thing.
Judging by the shit being thrown at me, am I to assume all US News t10 schools place better than Stern, Ross, Haas, McDonough?
The US News T10 is essentially just HYPSM + Columbia, Penn, and your choice of Duke/Chicago/Northwestern/Brown/Caltech depending on the year. With the exception of Caltech, yes, the average student at any of the other schools I named + the rest of the ivies places better than Stern/Ross/Haas/GT.
You can't look at placement like an aggregate number, because obviously state schools will beat out privates in total hires due to student body size and finance interest. If you attend any of the top private schools that I mentioned, you will have a much easier time recruiting, access to elite groups and buyside opportunities, and place better on avg than your state school counterparts. Even at someplace like Brown, the average outcome at a school like that is at least a top 10% outcome at Ross/Haas/etc.
I don't get why people don't understand that placement (on average and the top / highest quality placements) is simply worse at a state school or Stern/GT than a smaller private. Just because Ross might send more than Duke to banking per year doesn't mean its better for recruiting.
This is where you are wrong, schools like Chicago/Columbia/Brown/Northwestern aren't really above Stern/Ross/Haas in the recruiting process. In fact, Stern/Ross might be easier than the others. At both of these schools about 250/300 actually gun for IB (just search up Stern curve/ Ross grading and you'll understand), and based on what I see on the Stern career report, anyone who actually qualifies for IB gets into it (no extra mile required). Heck, I don't understand how guys can claim Chicago/Columbia guys do better than us. Half of Fu Foundation at Columbia guns for IB according to the career report, not to mention every social science/ humanities guy there also applies IB. Heck, I know guys doing Chemistry at UChicago and gunning for IB FO. This is more or less impossible at Stern/Ross/Haas, where IBs don't venture out to NYU/UMich/UCB. I do know HYPW shoot lights out (as they should), but the wrong use of per capita as a cope to showcase that schools like UChicago, Northwestern, Columbia, Cornell, Brown and Dartmouth are any better than Stern/Ross/Haas should stop. All of these schools are top notch in their own ways, and if you can't get into IB from any of these schools it is your goddamn fault.
Holy copeee
I dont understand why prospects feel such strong confidence when their only info is the 100 hours per week of LinkedIn stalking.
Here is a fact. My EB will give easier and less technical interviews for kids that go to schools like UChicago/Brown/Dartmouth because they dont have the finance hardo society constantly pumping out technical bots. We know they are heavily disadvantaged in terms of finance recruiting, but we also know they are incredibly sharp kids with insane work ethics to be able to attend and excel at those schools.
Stern/Haas/Ross and will get absolutely railed by techs just like the non-target kids.
Kelley bros can't keep getting away with this
Can someone do this for MBA schools and IB/PE placement?
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