How much does college affect eventual opportunities in IB?

I am currently in HS. I play lax and my recruiting window is soon. I am wondering while I consider schools if it is worthwhile enough to factor in if they are target/semi-target/non-target. How difficult would it be to get a job in NYC/Boston/South(Atlanta, Charlotte, etc) from different types of school in terms of prestige, size, or location(U of Richmond, Brown, Colgate, Michigan). I know that each different school and each different city/bank is very different but as a whole how important is your college?

4 Comments
 

I’m assuming you mean the prestige/ocr opportunities of your college? In that case, it depends.

Let’s say you want to do MF PE. If you go to URichmond and work your ass off to work at Goldman for 2 years, the PE firm wont care about what college you went to because you have Goldman on your resume.

But if you didn’t get into Goldman, the PE firm is gonna care that you have a bad college and a bad IB role.

Bottom line is, shoot for the stars and if it doesn’t work out, work your ass off for that first job.

 

Adding on, just as a general rule, your college matters a lot for your first job, and your first job matters a lot more than college for the next.

 

Thank you, very helpful. Another question, if I went to say a smaller, non-target school but still a good school in its own right like Colgate or Richmond how difficult is it to get that offer at Goldman or other BB? Also, if I don't get to a top-tier bank and instead a lesser or smaller one are exit opportunities poor?

 

Ut tenetur quos autem distinctio et dolor. Tenetur sed sint porro qui mollitia exercitationem voluptas. Ut autem voluptatem at non dolore. Voluptatem nihil animi fuga veniam. Eius placeat qui cumque modi nulla. Eaque tempora est quidem cumque ipsa.

Quod laudantium dignissimos rerum qui et. Quia voluptate et atque vitae necessitatibus iure harum iste. Quo quia pariatur voluptas voluptate quasi.

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
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
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...”