Columbia vs Dartmouth Vs Stanford

Without devolving into a flame war, can anyone on here shed some color on what recruiting for IB and buy-side opportunities looks like at these schools and how they would decide between them? Personally I really like all three places (though they are very different) but have been put off Stanford by the overwhelming sentiment on here that their IB/PE recruiting sucks. Would love to hear what everyone thinks PARTICULARLY current students at these places or people in the industry. Thanks!

3 Comments
 

Disclosure: Columbia UG alum here with IB/PE background. I assume you're talking about undergrad in your post. Recruiting opportunities at these schools will be best at Stanford, #2 at Columbia, and #3 at Dartmouth. For better or worse, this industry cares greatly about prestige, and that gives Stanford the edge in this calculation. Most Stanford undergrads just aren't all that interested in IB/PE, but the minority of kids who are don't have much trouble finding these opportunities. Columbia and Dartmouth are somewhat close, but Columbia wins for marginally higher prestige, ability to pursue in-semester internships, and the flexibility afforded by the fact that interviews are just a subway ride away.

These three schools are all quite different from one another. If you're trying to decide between them, visit and talk to people and try to imagine where you would be happiest. All three will give you great recruiting opportunities.  

 

Dartmouth alum here. I loved my time at the College and can't speak highly enough about the IB/PE network. I took the standard BB/EB > MF > HBS/GSB path (ignore outdated title) and benefitted tremendously from alumni at at each step, especially for PE recruiting

Largely agree with the comment above, too. Stanford has the edge if you want to maximize finance recruiting odds but you should be more focused on fit given you can't go wrong and they all have starkly different atmospheres. Columbia does have more lay prestige and is more of a research powerhouse than Dartmouth, but my biased opinion is that Dartmouth has a slight edge in PE, where we have a larger network from what I've seen 

 

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