Best schools if undecided between finance/tech...
Wondering if anyone had any insights into which schools will serve you the best if you are undecided between finance (IB mostly) and tech (FAANG)? Just from scrolling around Linkedin, I came up with a list of a few schools that have strong representation in both industries- its hard of course though because some schools have 5000 people and some have 20,000. I am near the top (10%) of my ok private HS class, have 35 on the ACT, and pretty good ECs so I think I hopefully can contend for most of the schools?... When I do have to eventually choose, career prospects will not be the main priority (location, college experience, prestige will be more important)- still think I should come in informed. no legacy btw
Thoughts on these schools for placement into tech/finance combined...
Harvard Stanford Pennsylvania U Berkeley USC CMU MIT UCLA London School of Econ Georgetown Uni of Washington
Are these good Safeties- Rutgers, SDSU, UT, Uconn,
Any advice helps, thanks :)
If you get national merit from PSAT, and you put USC as your #1 choice in the national merit website (doesn’t mean you have to go there), then USC will automatically give you half tuition scholarship
I am national merit semifinalist... don't know if that counts- kind of annoying that is based off a test taken in 10th grade. Luckily cost isn't exactly a factor, but if I got free money it certainly wouldn't hurt... How would you say USC places into finance/tech?
It counts, but only the 11th grade one is the national merit qualifier, at least I thought. You'll know if you are, though, since the National Merit corporation will contact you. Cost wasn't a huge factor for me either, but it's 130k over 4 years, so it's hard to pass up unless you got into like HYPW or something, or unless you're very wealthy. For USC finance, there's a student org that takes about 30 kids per grade, and this is their placement last couple of years: http://trojaninvestingsociety.com/tis-placement/ There are other kids that also get offers, but this is a pretty good starting point. I would say about 100 kids apply for those 30 spots, but it really isn't that hard if you have a decent gpa and like one internship. We place well enough in tech, but keep in mind there are really only 2 types of roles that hire from undergrad if you're talking about big tech (FAANG). 1. Software engineer aka code god, these kids are CS majors who pass very rigorous technical interviews, likely have many side projects they've coded in their free time, etc. They don't get these jobs cuz they go to USC, but they wouldn't get them just cuz they went to Stanford either. They just have insane skills 2. Product manager, these kids are likely CS majors, at least a CS minor, but they're more businessy as well, not pure coders. The role is kind of like marketing in a way, but you should look it up since I can't explain it that well.
In general, I think it's hard to compare finance/consulting placements with tech placements, since tech placements are so much more skill based. Stanford has more kids at google cuz they're the best coders. Kids from lower tier schools can work at google if they pass the interviews and have the projects and internships, though, so it matters more the kid than the school. A much larger percentage of people can learn banking technicals or pass a case interview, in my view, so school reputation becomes a much larger factor. If you go to Harvard, you really might get a job just cuz you go to Harvard, shown by the art history and philosophy majors with a 3.5 that get offers. Lastly, take this all with a grain of salt (except the placment site, cuz that's objectively true) since I'm also a college student.
I see you've put down London School of Economics. If you apply to LSE, you might as well apply to 4 other UK universities. It costs £20 to apply to one university and £25 if you apply to 2-5 universities and unless you get to Oxbridge interview stage, theres no extra work required with other applications.
Generally, Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL, Warwick, Edinburgh, Durham, Bristol, Bath, Nottingham and Manchester are probably your best bets and all have good student life and are decent locations (other than Warwick although its not that bad). There are other good unis but these are the bigges and I imagine that the Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, LSE and maybe UCL are the only well known ones from the list in the US. But if you want to stay in Europe then all of these are good.
Sadly I don't want to stay in Europe... I want to be in NYC, SF, LA. I more chose LSE just cause it had so much at Goldman Sachs and Ive heard of it before.. Maybe it isn't the right fit?
If you don’t want to be in Europe don’t go to LSE
LSE won't place well into UK tech scene, lots of places reserved for STEM students from Oxbridge, Imperial, Warwick etc. It's very good for Economics and finance / placing into IBD in Europe. The choices of courses are limited compared to other unis in UK meaning a less diverse atmosphere.
Even if you don’t want to stay in Europe and want to come back to US right away you should put Oxford/Cambridge (only allowed to apply to one) and Imperial + fill the other 3 spots with LSE + one of UCL/Durham/Warwick.
Their undergrad programs are generally less expensive than US schools and are only 3 years in duration. Oxford/Cambridge especially carry unbelievable weight as two of the top 5 universities in the world. Imperial is a place where a lot of students go into STEM that then later transition into IB, as it is the best STEM university in the UK( or at least top tier with oxbridge in that regard). LSE carries weight in the US as well.
You might as well apply to these schools and some might give you significant scholarships, making it hard not to go (especially if it’s Oxbridge) + the fact that it’s only 3 years. And yeah application is ridiculously cheap it’s like 25 bucks
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I should add Michigan, thanks.
It'd have to be Stanford, maybe Penn M&T
Going off the Penn M&T comment, the Penn Huntsman scholars I know too are cold blooded killers. Will set one up well.
What makes them different than regular Wharton? Obviously the dual degree, but curious why they're different than Wharton from a recruiting standpoint - if anything, would imagine Wharton on its own sets someone up better because you can focus specifically on the business classes instead of grinding the other degree
In the perfect world, Id go to Penn M&T, Stanford, or Harvard.. Probably not that likely sadly. Would it be worth going ED?
For more realistic (but still 15% regular decision) ED considerations I am mostly considering Georgetown, USC, Berkeley. (people are not kind to UCLA on this forum..)
Man, I was in your exact shoes a few years ago and now I'm a senior in college. I took the risk of not going ED, and ended up at one of the places you mentioned (Harvard/Stanford/Penn M&T). You just have to decide how badly you want a HYPSMW. I could've gotten burned easily, but for me, I had to take that chance. If you ED, I do think your chances rise very dramatically since most ED schools fill half their class from ED because they care about yield. I'm assuming you're from CA, but I would not ED to USC unless you know you want to live in LA. If you have the profile, Columbia/Brown/Dartmouth/Georgetown/Chicago are more worth it. You could also ED to Penn.
I went to MIT, but I have friends that went to schools from ranked 70 on the US News to the top 10. For the most part, don't worry about the school you go to if you want to do tech. You barely have to network (just get a referral) and all you have to do is study for coding questions and practice interviewing (which you can do on your own in any school). Anyone at any decent school can get into FAANG companies. Some startups like to look for their own alumni, but I wouldn't even worry about that for now.
For finance, it's a bit different. Go to the best school you can. Some schools overperform or are overrepresented on the street, so be sure to include those too (i'm sure u can find that info here).
If you want to do quant, some firms care (DE Shaw/Jane Street) about school prestige. For most prop shops, as long as your competent you get in.
I’m a bit biased but it might be worth considering Cornell. Pretty strong undergraduate business (Dyson, Hotel) and engineering programs. You can also study CS through A&S and then double major in something like economics.
Yeah isn’t Cornell engineering ranked the highest out of the ivies?
Dyson acc rate is low, only 3% for RD, but the AEM minor is available to most people I'm pretty sure.
However, a lot easier to keep a high GPA at Dyson, and you never know...
I applied RD, and it was the only top program I got into!
University of Phoenix - Online
Unsure if this has been said but:
for tech LSE isn’t great, even for quantitative finance/prop trading it’s not targeted and has poor placement. LSE only offers social sciences + data science and don’t have a maths department and so for standard tech there’s no appropriate course to study… better to go Oxbridge, UCL, Imperial or Warwick.
This forum greatly overestimates the power of LSE in london finance recruiting, it’s usually the most represented school but because of self selection and UK recruiting is very random and not based on networking/resume pushing as it is in the US. Most people at LSE will end up with less than great roles, just like at the rest of the UK targets since that’s typically how recruitment for finance works here. It’s only really at HYP where you can put in nominal effort and land something decent due to the power of your alumni/school effectively having you courted. In the uk your school goes on your resume and gets you first round interviews only.
My recs (not ordered) - assuming finance = non-quant and tech = product.
US
UK
I might swap out Edinburgh for Warwick since the former is a semi target. That being said I’m unsure about either schools tech placement
Warwick isn’t that great in tech. Good for quant fin though if you do maths.
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