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Based on the most helpful WSO content, here are some of the top target schools for investment banking:

Top Target Schools:

  1. Harvard University
  2. University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
  3. Yale University
  4. Princeton University
  5. Cornell University
  6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  7. Duke University
  8. Stanford University
  9. Dartmouth College
  10. Brown University

Second Tier Target Schools:

  1. University of Chicago
  2. New York University (Stern)
  3. University of Michigan
  4. Northwestern University
  5. Williams College

Notable Mentions:

  • University of Cambridge
  • Columbia University
  • University of Texas at Austin
  • Boston College
  • UCLA
  • London School of Economics
  • Georgetown University
  • Arizona State University
  • Brigham Young University

These schools are known for their strong alumni networks, on-campus recruiting, and high placement rates in investment banking roles.

Sources: Comprehensive List of Target Schools for Investment Banking, What's the best school for investment banking?, The Comprehensive List of Transfer Friendly Schools For Investment Banking, Help me choose the right university for Investment Banking, Comparison of College Athletes to Investment Banking

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 

Any of the following schools will put you in a good spot to recruit for IB/PE roles straight out of undergrad. 

- Harvard

- Yale

- Princeton

- UPenn

- Columbia

- Cornell

- Duke

- UChicago

- Georgetown (McDonough)

- UVA (McIntire)

- UMich (Ross)

- NYU (Stern)

- Notre Dame (Mendoza)

Some semi-targets that are also good:

- Brown

- Dartmouth

- Northwestern

- Stanford (semi-target just due to self-selection by students)

- MIT (most people at MIT probably aren't interested in finance but you will have no problem recruiting from there)

 
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