Best Colleges for Placement in IB/PE
Hey all, I am currently a senior in high school and finalizing my college list. IB/PE are career fields that I wish to pursue in the future, and I understand that being in a target university is the first step for landing a FT role at a BB/EB.
I have seen that HYP and Wharton are all generally considered to be supertargets, but what are some other target schools that place well at BB banks for IB? Any advice/guidance on if the following universities fit into such a tier would be really helpful: Cornell, Umich, Northwestern, Uchicago, Duke, Georgetown, and NYC -- obviously the econ program/business school for each college (Dyson, Ross, etc.)
Here's a quick rundown, using general tiers because people overrate small differences in schools when they place the exact same:
Tier 1: Harvard, Wharton
Tier 2: Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Columbia, UPenn
Tier 3: UChicago, Brown, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Duke, Cornell
Tier 4: NYU Stern, Michigan, Georgetown, UVA, Notre Dame
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here are some insights into target schools for Investment Banking (IB) and Private Equity (PE):
Top Target Schools for IB/PE:
Other Notable Target Schools:
Additional Insights:
Placement Statistics:
These schools represented approximately 22% of all recruitment and hiring of bulge bracket banks in 2017.
Conclusion:
If you are aiming for a career in IB/PE, attending any of the schools listed above would provide you with strong opportunities for recruitment into top firms. Each of these universities has a robust network and on-campus recruiting processes that can significantly enhance your chances of landing a role in these competitive fields.
Sources: Comprehensive List of Target Schools for Investment Banking, Target schools for IB, What are the Strongest Non-Target Schools for Undergrad Recruitment?, IU Kelley Top Target or Semi-Target?, Introducing my kids to IB (in advance)
I would say below the HYP + Wharton + Stanford + MIT
The two tiers below are kind of equal, just depends where you get in and what culture you like. Some are way more finance focused but all place basically equally
You have UChicago, Duke, Columbia, Non-Wharton Penn, Cornell Dyson
Then Northwestern, Dartmouth, Cornell non-dyson
Aside from Brown, all these schools in the line below have insane amounts of competition with lots of kids wanting to do IB
Then UMich Ross, UCB, Georgetown, UVA, Stern, Brown
These are not traditionally finance focused aside but a lot of them have business schools like Marshall, Olin, Mendoza, etc. that most kids want IB from
Then Amherst, Williams, Notre Dame, JHU
Then Vandy, WashU, UT Austin, USC, UCLA, UNC maybe
Congrats on Dyson!
I go to ND and would say the school's placements are much better than pre-08. We place people in almost every top Chicago IB firm (e.g., Lazard RX, Greenhill, Houlihan Lokey RX, Evercore, GS, JPM). Our NYC pipeline is also getting better. My anecdotal knowledge: Lazard RX (NYC/Chicago) gives out min of 3 offers, 6+ to EVR M&A/RX, 5-6 to MS, 7-8 to GS, and a couple each to other EBs. We also have solid placements to buyside out of undergrad. We definitely do not have a million people competing for IB offers. Collaboration is encouraged throughout the school.
So would you still place them at this tier or above one with Stern and UVA? Or somewhere in the middle but moving up? I had put it lower because they don't send volume like Ross or Berkeley, or a name like Brown.
Emory is definitely in the last or second to last group
nice
Harvard and Wharton are the most prominent schools for Wall Street careers. They get recruitment from any IB/PE/HF firm you could name.
Tier 1A: Harvard, Wharton
Tier 1B: Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT
Tier 2A: Columbia, UPenn (non-Wharton), UChicago
Tier 2B: Dartmouth, Duke, Brown, Cornell, Northwestern
Tier 3: Notre Dame, Stern, Georgetown, Ross
Not much difference between tiers 2A and 2B, mainly the perceived prestige. These schools will give you great recruiting opportunities for IB but ain't easy to land top BB/EB offers by any means. PE will be more difficult if you don't go to HYW-level schools. You still see people landing PE seats out of undergrad like Stern, Georgetown, and Ross, so it's not impossible.
Wharton, Stern, HBS, Princeton
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