Breaking into top schools coming from a lesser known uni.

Hi guys. I am an Italian student studying finance at the University of Florence (Italy) and my dream is to break into IB. My plan is to do so after attaining a master in finance in a top tier European school. Unfortunately my uni is not as reputable as others in my country and I have always felt like I am at a disproportionate disadvantage because of that, consequently I have been grinding a lot to fill this chasm (4.0 GPA, starting my own club, learning new languages, semester abroad at ESSEC and what not). Quite sadly though, every time I hop on LinkedIn to scan some profiles of people who got the master I would like to one day have, from the schools I would like to attend (LSE, LBS to name a few), I notice that all of those with an italian degree come from Bocconi university. So my question is, is it possible to break into one of this schools coming from a less renowned uni? Thanks In advance.

1 Comments
 

Architecto omnis laboriosam nulla voluptatem excepturi ex. Odio consectetur et ratione. Eius deleniti suscipit quas alias. Officia adipisci aperiam quaerat beatae rerum.

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

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (66) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”