College Decision for PE/IB
Hi, high school senior here. Fortunate enough to have been admitted REA to Stanford and received likely letters from Dartmouth/Columbia.
My question is, between these schools, as well as NYU Stern and Williams, which one will set me up best for a career in IB/PE?
I’m leaning Stanford, but have also heard excellent things about the Dartmouth and Columbia alumni networks, and learning finance in classes at Stern does appeal to me. I’ve also heard Stern and Columbia’s location is optimal for networking.
Would love to hear any thoughts, particularly from those in the industry or those who’ve gone through recruiting rather than other clueless high schoolers/freshman like myself. Thanks
Stanford 10000%
Thanks for the reply - do you think there’s any merit to comments I’ve heard from Stern and Columbia students telling me Stanford isn’t the best choice because of fewer alumni in finance?
No. All banks recruit quite hard at Stanford. Just fewer students are interested compared to other schools.
Stanford name goes farther than your other options, simple as that.
Sure, there's less alumni, but with the Stanford name you won't have trouble getting interviews, especially for buyside
Stanford.
Stanford 100%.
Sure, you'll see more representation from your other options in finance, but that's a product of self-selection given that Stanford kids tend to prefer more tech-related stuff. Even if you're interested in a firm that doesn't really have Stanford alumni I doubt you'll have issues networking and getting into those processes given the strength of your school. I'm at a school where we don't get many looks given that finance isn't very popular here too but I haven't really had a problem getting on the phone with professionals because my school has a strong reputation.
Thank you for the insight - this seems to be a much more straightforward decision than I expected
Columbia student here and have friends at Stanford. Take Stanford.
Bro if you take Stern over Stanford you will regret that decision for the rest of your life. There is only one correct decision here amongst these schools
Stanford, and then do tech, keeping finance as a fallback. Trust me this industry is dying but keeps peddling the lie you'll make partner with carry.
If I could do it over again, I’d probably do tech too
Stanford, unless you're really big into the smaller school culture and liberal arts focus then Williams (Williams rep and alums are extremely strong as well).
Stanford>Dartmouth>Columbia>>>>>Williams>>>>Stern
Make you sure check out the aid package too. When I was in undergrad, Columbia gave me the least among the Ivies in terms of financial aid (not material). An extra 10K a year from Dartmouth vs. Stanford would make me lean Dartmouth.
angry Stern kids throwin MS lol.. tbf would probably swap Williams and Stern for finance - no one knows NESCAC schools outside of the northeast really (though *MS inbound* both are likely where you end up if you dont get into the former)
Stanford should be your go-to. If you didn’t like the campus vibe, Dartmouth and Columbia aren’t too shabby either.
Do NOT go to Shitford. Overrated dumbass school for pussies who can't handle real weather. Undergrad is shit-tier (tier 8/9) for anything except CS, their MBA is decent from what I've heard though.
I'd choose Dartmouth for the social scene, alumni network and prestige. Columbia and Stern have shit culture and social scenes. Williams is decent.
I'd rank them as:
1. Dartmouth
2. Columbia/Williams
3. Stern
4. Stanford
Agreed. S is for weakling geeks who type on their computers all day, optimizing one autistic component of an app all day. They get no sunlight, either. S is NOT prestigious and should not be named in the same sentence as the ivory towers of D, Y, W, and Oxbridge.
The actual acronym is OCLWYD (supreme six). S inflates their acceptance rates and auto-admit celebrities with >x number of followers on social media to boost their "prestige", but the real ivory seats in the west coast are all stolen by USC kids.
Sun, girls, D1 sports give Stanford a clear edge as much as it pains me to say.
Girls? Huh? Have you seen the ungodly abominations that flood the campus of Stanford? I have. USC takes the entire west coast for hottest girls.
well duh, but the girls at Stanford are better than those at Dartmouth and Columbia. I agree that USC girls are in a different tier. Gamedays were always fun with the SC crowd.
USC student here. Can confirm, however SMU is taking our top talent now with the school getting tougher to get into.
Honestly, if you just want to do west coast recruiting (particularly LA) and stay here your entire life, I'd recommend USC over anywhere except Stanford maybe. Send like 40 kids to top EB and BBs each year, and get to join a top 2-3 fraternity and literally rage face with the finest 18-21 year old girls you've ever seen (besides SMU again) like 4 nights a week. Show you have the slightest bit of intelligence and these girls think your marriage material. Settle down in Newport after banking, start a hedge fund, and just live life man.
Look, you don't know what any of this means yet, but religiously, follow the following path:
Stanford --> Qatalyst --> Silver Lake --> GSB --> Greatness
This is the west coast equivalent of Harvard --> GS --> Apollo --> HBS --> Greatness
Kids from top schools are skipping banking now. No need for Q or GS
Having Q on your resume gives you a massive network once the Analyst diaspora permeates the entire VC / GE / PE SF ecosystem, and they all stay there
My boy had a similar decision and selected the East Coast equivalent. It was a great choice for him. He hopes to secure a Quant trading role by graduation. This summer he will be working at a FAANG in SV as a freshman. Hence, students from Stanford do not need an IB role to reach the Buyside! The same cannot be said by students from many other schools.
Current Stanford student recruiting for banking. If you TRULY want to do banking/finance, I would caution against Stanford and encourage Columbia/Stern for these reasons:
1. You might lose your interest in finance or not be able to develop that interest as well (which may or may not be a good thing). There is a big anti-finance tilt on campus, meaning there's no finance classes, few finance clubs, and very very few people who go into finance. Finance is also looked down upon. Learning finance/recruiting at Stanford is a very lonely process with few school resources and few other peers going thru the same thing. There are good # of alumni in industry tho, so that shouldn't be a concern.
2. There's generally a very casual/lazy and unpre-professional culture at Stanford. Few people discuss career plans, business, etc. Few people actually desire and are working hard towards PE/IB/HF/MBB. Most people don't even know what PE is. Because of the West Coast, people are generally lazier. It wouldn't surprise me if among all the Ivies, Stanford sent the fewest % of students to IB/PE/MBB. This culture may not be the right one to foster thinking about your career. It certainly wasn't for me.
People generally think Stanford is an elite school simply because it's difficult to get enter. However, the general unpre-professional culture will not be the best to foster opportunities for a career in finance.
Would strongly recommend HYP > Stanford in all cases, Columbia > Stanford if you're set on finance. If not set on finance, then Stanford
Recent Stanford alum here.
I get where you're coming from but I think the conclusions you're making are off.
Is Stanford a finance driven school? Obviously not - students are more driven to tech. But if you want to get into IB there are more than enough opportunities to do so. Like at any school you just need to learn to play the game early. Maintain a fairly high GPA, join one of the finance clubs or communities (e.g. Blyth Fund, Stanford Finance, AKPsi), make friends with upper class men in finance, etc. This is what you have to do at any school. If the goal is to take a full course load of only finance classes and be talking finance/careers at the dining halls with your friends every day then yeah, probably better off going off somewhere else. But it's entirely possible to break into finance without doing that, and hopefully OP can appreciate the other things Stanford has to offer besides just prep for a finance career.
Secondly, you're falling into the common trap of mistaking duck syndrome for laziness. It's not that Stanford students are lazy or not driven, for better or worse it's a culture thing in California to not be overtly status chasing and just pretend like you're not trying. In reality people are just as competitive and career driven as any East coast Ivy. Class mates would constantly be telling me how they're failing all their classes and their GPA sucks, but the next day post on their LinkedIn that they're interning at Facebook or GS. For the naive (me for a while) it makes you think that opportunities just fall into your lap, but in reality people are all hustling behind the scenes. One of the best things about Stanford is that the culture is really collaborative, you just need to put yourself out there and ask. It just took me reaching out to other students and alums who had roles I wanted, and they were more than willing to refer me, connect me with people, etc. There's 0 ounce of cut throatness, everyone wants each other to succeed.
Finally, can't remember where I saw these numbers, Stanford isn't actually that far off Ivies in terms of placement into IB/MBB. Just feels that way because of how much hype there is into FANG and tech.
FAANG, except Netflix, is easy nowadays. CS kids are comparing Quant offers when choosing schools.
Still Stanford beats the rest of OP list by a heartbeat. Would recommend picking Stanford as well.
Lol "consulting analyst" did you even recruit for banking? What you said about Stanford in my opinion, is objectively false
Definitely either Columbia or Stanford. Do not consider Stern, Columbia will open more doors and finance isn’t hard enough for you to need to study it in school. The answer actually just comes down to this:if you want to do finance in NYC, go to Columbia. If you want to be in CA, go to Stanford. The difference in prestige or opportunities between Columbia and Stanford is extremely marginal (Stanford has a slightly better name, Columbia you can intern during the year/build a better resume), but you’ll also have the benefit of having a massive community in the city you want to live in after graduation. This means a gigantic automatic built in network, friends, etc. Stanford has way less NYC representation and whereas it’s an amazing school/great choice, it’d silly to go somewhere you will end up leaving the majority of your network and friends behind to hop across the country
wtf is Williams
Anything but Stern
If someone can find anyone who picked Stern over Stanford, please let me know. I will slap them into an alternate universe.
I'm sure they've already slapped themselves many times over by now
I do - two from Stern. But I would take S > Stern lol. Took it for personal/fit reasons.
As a NYU guy with columbia friends... go to stanford. easy
u lucky shit haha.
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