7 Sisters Colleges?

Hello!

I've been scrolling through this forum for advice on how to best position myself for banking after college. I've gathered that the more prestigious a school generally offers a better chance for banking. I plan on applying to many of the target schools, though I was really captivated by the 7 Sisters colleges, or at least the 5 that are still all-women (Wellesley, Barnard, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Bryn Mawr). 

I know a lot of these schools have partnerships with other schools as well (barnard works very closely with columbia, wellesley offers cross-registration with mit/olin/brandeis, Bryn Mawr has partnerships with Penn and Swarthmore, Smith/MoHo work with Amherst and the other LACs). 

Are these colleges respected on the street, would you say there's a lot of alumni, and do they receive any OCR?

9 Comments
 

your best bet at figuring this out is to go to each bank's linkedin page and seeing how many alumni from each of those colleges work at those banks, and secondarily whether they were an undergrad analyst hire or had to get an MBA first

with how much finance is a male dominated industry (and noticeably more filled with sexist men, if this forum is any indication), id doubt that any of the women's colleges are notable targets, simply due to the lack of alumni at those banks. if youre the type of person who is focused on banking, regardless of gender, youd likely pick a business oriented school first, not a women's college. So I guess maybe the question is: do you value college experience more, or ease of recruiting more?

in any case, you can still take advantage gender diversity recruiting channels (though you should research whether they are open to all colleges or a select list), and you should always pick the most competitive school (which would be wellesley, i think)

 

^ This. Just see if there are many alumni from any of these colleges on the street. If you're really adamant about going into IB or some other wall street job I'd probably consider trying for a wall street target or semi-target, but know girls who work at top BB IBs from super non-target schools. 

If you want to do a women's college, know that you're probably going to need significant internship experience (i.e. working during college and taking easy classes) in addition to top summer internships. Girls who Invest is also awesome if you can get it, but it's pretty difficult! In addition, keep aware of the various Winter or Spring insight days available for women in finance. Apply to as many as you can if you go to a non-target! 

Bluntly, I never did any of the above myself, but went to a target, had a solid GPA, and had decent internships and was able to get into a top MM/EB in RX IB, so take what I say above with a grain of salt. Just seen it with a lot of girls who get into finance.

Also, total side note, but don't let the guys on this forum scare you too much. There's good content here, you just need to navigate a bit to find it

 

Companies are eager to hire seven sisters alums. The seven sisters colleges graduate proven leadership. We have a group called the Seven Sisters Alumnae association - if you google that it will take you to the website. We have an upcoming conference where a bunch of financial institutions are sponsors. 
 

 

I went to a 7S and can PM you if you want. I think it depends what 7S you go to. I found it very easy to break in. Although they are technically “non-targets” according to WSO they really aren’t. You make 1 phone call or attend a dinner and you have an offer.!At my school, only a few people wanted banking and everyone got a spot who wanted one and it was incredibly easy to get people on the phone provided you’re normal.


If you really want banking, you need to join your schools investment club this is where the recruiting takes place. If you’re at all athletic, walk on to whatever sports team you can. If you identify as LGBTQ apply for O4U. Make sure you also apply to GWI and every womens diversity program.

Also, some people at the 7S are weird and don’t pass the airport test. If this is you, you’ll probably fit in great at a womens college but you’ll really struggle breaking in.
 

The poster above (Jen) is crazy. She always tries to push her 7S website (usually on Facebook) but not surprised she’s here.

 
Most Helpful

You shouldn't have a problem breaking into finance from the seven sisters.

I've run into enough alums in the industry from the sisters to hear about their super strong network. As long as you do well academically and have a genuine interest in the field, you'll find enough senior alums to push for you. There's also the broad recognition that these are very good schools with smart students. The schools may not be 'targets' but that's more due to the interests and volumes of finance drive students from other top programs. 

My biggest concern about going to a sister college and focusing on finance would be your classmates. You may not have a lot of classmates interested in the same field. It helps to have a good finance club in college and be surrounded by peers for interview prep and such. You can easily do due diligence on this. I suggest speaking to current seniors at your target schools who are going into finance. You can find them easily via Linkedin. This would also serve as an early intro to networking and if you keep ties with them, benefit you in the long run regardless of what school you land.

Best of luck!    

 

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