Finances/location/campus/weather aren't factors. I am curious which school will provide the most name-drop and resume prestige for finance, MBB, PE, and politics. Got into one of them already and will most likely get into the other two
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IU Kelley
Stanford, you say weather isn't a factor but trust me those Boston and Chicago winters will destroy you
Hard to beat the combo of weather/parties/girls at Stanford
Right, there's only 100's of millions of people living in the Northeast/Midwest.
All are powerhouse targets. Buddy of mine goes to UChicago and there are tons of resources and opportunities to get into banking. She joked it’s so accessible that sometimes people end up in IB nearly by accident.
You can get top tier placement from any of these schools, so you should pick based on fit. I would personally take Stanford since I love the west coast and the weather. As others have said it’s better oriented to tech, VC, and Silicon Valley. Still, plenty of good investment banking to be done in SF. This is a good problem to have, best of luck.
I would take Harvard. It’s the undisputed brand leader in the space, highest NPS, near 100% unaided awareness. There’s a certain blue blooded prestige that Stanford cannot match.
The idea that Stanford lacks "blue-blood" prestige is interesting. If we took the logic one step further, one could argue that Harvard also falls behind in "blue blood" prestige to Oxford and Cambridge. I attended a DC prep school, and at our school, Harvard and Stanford were the most coveted schools, even to Princeton and Yale. I went to a non-HYP Ivy and wouldn't trade it for anything, but to a certain extent, I do think that no other schools overall match Harvard and Stanford's dominance across business/medicine/law/liberal arts (and Stanford I guess edges in STEM) if we're talking about the institutions as a whole, which contribute to their overall "prestige". In any case, I think if you look at Harvard/Stanford/Chicago/any other Top 10 school, the composition from elite prep schools is near identical, which suggests that their "blue blood' prestige is also similar.
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From my minimal knowledge, Booth is the best choice. Ivy League's are Ivy League's but there a good amount of elite non-Ivy b-schools out there. Also worth looking at public b-schools like Kelley, Ross, or Darden.
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Econ. major here. Very interesting major. I chose it because it let's you study the big stuff like financial systems to the small stuff like individual purchases. University of Chicago is highly ranked for econ. but Harvard and Stanford aren't bad choices either.
So, you got into Stanford. Forget UChicago.
It's a great school but not nearly as good as H/S for pretty much everything except Econ dept, intellectual atmosphere and quirkiness.
For general prestige, H = S.
B/w H/S, pick H unless you're keen on tech/product/VC and the like. They're both fair game for consulting.
For finance, H>S.There are quite a few opportunities that are exclusive to Harvard/Wharton grads.
Class of 2020:
Harvard: 3 KKR PE, 1 Warburg PE, 1 BX PE, 1 Bain Cap PE, 2 PJT RX
Stanford: 1 Bain cap PE
If you're not familiar, those are among the best outcomes in finance for undergraduate students at top schools.
Harvard also fares better w hedge funds and Quant trading firms.
Now most of the top investment banks recruit at both places, but Stanford's pipeline into NYC IB could be worse because it's not efficient for firms to concentrate on it as they do at Harvard/Wharton bc there's not as many students planning to go into finance at Stanford. It's amazing for West coast IB tho. Still a top target for NYC IB. Just not on the level of H/W.
All things considered, it's splitting hairs. Choose whichever you'd like more. Talk to people at both Unis, compare academic programs, clubs and what not. I've been told that Stanford's pre professional clubs are more cutthroat and reject a lot of people. I'll leave it to the Stanford students to talk about the competition there.
You'll still have to get into Harvard. So, good luck on that!
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Harvard is stronger than Stanford for finance, but truly, no opportunities are closed off at this level, it just comes down to self-selection. For Stanford, lots at Bain Cap if you look at last 2-3 years than just this year. Many at Silver Lake and General Atlantic. KKR and Ares do recruit, so any numbers you listed just come down to interview performance. Good number of VC hires annually at NEA, Accel, TCV. I'd believe that Stanford sends more for quant finance given the outsized number of STEM-oriented students (DE Shaw, Citadel are huge), but again, certainly many Harvard students go there too. For HFs, big presence at Point72 and Bridgewater. There's this "bust" mentality to where if people don't land an impressive finance firm (even if it's a mid-tier BB), they'll recruit for MBB or PM roles, which might explain some of the numbers.
1 Harvard = Stanford (S better if you want to do tech/VC and stay on the WC, H better if you want to work in NYC and EC)
(Gap)
2 Chicago
Which is however an amazing uni!
All 3 will be fine. Good luck :)
Harvard > (marginally [I've also noticed there is a bond between other Ivy Leaguers when networking]) Stanford >>> Chicago
Can confirm, no idea why, but Ivy students and alum are generally receptive of those from other Ivies
Went to Dartmouth and our "Ivy" networking events are always the 8 Ivies + MIT & Stanford.
Harvard for the clout
Chicago has the worst girls so id avoid
Elaborate.
The girls at Chicago have beards
I beg to differ. It's NYC -> Chicago -> LA in that order. The male/female ratio is also fucked up in Cali.
Harvard's reputation proceeds itself and is self-explanatory. Willing to bet that even literal illiterate people around the WORLD have heard of/know of/have an idea of what Harvard is.
And in case someone is offended that I'm prioritizing prestige, let's get one damn thing straight-- it makes a huge positive difference, especially in banking/finance where's it's all about signaling.
Harvard is Harvard because of its rigorous curriculum, high-level network, ultra successful alumni, and rich history. People know this and react accordingly.
Who cares what illiterate people around the world know about your school? Every single person that is of any consequence for OP personally or professionally will recognize all of these schools lol.
Do you think illiterate people around the world know what an investment banker or PE associate do? Of course not. Do they know what a farmer does? Yes, so by your logic should OP become a farmer?
Hahaha, well at least we now know that the "MBA" in your name doesn't come from Harvard.
My point was that Harvard is in a league of its own.
Fuckin Boothie.
How do people learn about WSO at 17yo?
one of these things is not like the others
Will “most likely” get into the other two? Damn u work on the covid vaccine or something to be that sure?
How did you get into all three of these schools?? What are your stats/race?
How did you get into all three of these schools?? What are your stats/race?
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As someone who got into 2 of the schools you mentioned, but ended up going to Princeton/MIT/Caltech. I would honestly take Harvard. Weather at Stanford is nice, but honestly I enjoy having 4 seasons which may give away where I'm at now. Harvard is fantastic for any discipline and has deep ties in every industry. Name dropping Harvard/Stanford will have the same effect but UChicago would be definitely less to common folk. Harvard has everything that UChicago has except for stressed students. People struggle less in class and can do other things outside of academics. Plus, Boston is better college town (Chicago is little too close to the southside while Stanford is little isolated).
Harvard unless you are set on doing tech/vc
Choose RBC
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