I'm a junior in highschool, is this a good list of colleges to be applying to for investment banking?

For context I live in Utah so BYU and university of Utah are both safety's, and I will be applying an an international student on the F1 visa. Should I consider Applying to some that aren't on this list, remove some, or change some with others?Upenn, U-chicago, Cornell, UC Berkely, UCLA, Vanderbuilt, UT Austin, Umich, Boston College, NYU, USC, georgetown , Princeton, Indiana Uni(bloomington), CMU, University of Utah, BYU, Texas A&M, SMU, Oxfore, cambridge, London School of Econ and polisci, University of london, St Andrews

40 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Please don’t base your college decision solely on a job you have 0 idea if you’ll still be interested in doing when the time comes.

Your college years are considered some of the best years of your life so focus on: Social scene, location (do u like the town), clubs, student quality of life, diversity, sports, etc.

You seem extremely naive and going to these schools (even the targets you list) don’t guarantee an IB FT job.

You should seriously base your decision on other, more relevant factors.

 

I that's good advice, and you're right(investment banking isn't something I aspire to do). I just realized really early on that I'm an entrepreneurial kid and into business, I started by mowing lawns and eventually got to the point where I employed my own friends for my business(even though the margins were terrible lol). I'm an Indian citizen tho, so its impossible for me to create my own business or startup without moving back to India because of regulation laws.

And I also realized that Investment Banking(although may be boring) is an excellent pathway into the world of PE where I can still learn about how companies actually work and what makes the successful ones successful without having to move back to India and start my own company, and the money seems to be great as well. And so in my mind I decided to go to an industry that would allow me to stay in the US and make decent money like IB or Law or Med.

I didn't quite like the idea of getting into more debt and going to school for longer than necessary especially since jobs in the banking and tech field exist. The reason I'm so keen on staying in the United states, is because If I can get a job here to sponsor my visa(no matter how bad the working hours or pay) it would become possible for me to become a us citizen since I was born in the Check Republic even though I'm an Indian citizens(idk how that happened) rather quickly since I won't have to wait in the long lines for Indian immigrants.

I just need something that will let me stay in the US for a few years and give me some decent cash while I'm at it so I can pursue my real dream of starting a company. 

So to be honest you are completely right, but I'd be more than ok dealing with the long hours or the conditions because it would allow me to pursue my passions sooner. I also don't much care about the social life because I'd say I'm decent at adapting to situations, and honestly I don't much care what the location or social scene are like and I don't play sports, because I'm just looking for school's that will let me network with more people from a higher social status than that of myself. Idk if that's the best route, but it is what it is. If you have any suggestions for any other industries that would let me do that I would be grateful but that's about what my thought process looked like to decide to get into IB

 

You only need to apply to 2-3 safeties, anything more than that wastes time/money. I applied to ~25 schools, including UCs, and shotgunned many reaches. It worked out. Universities with undergraduate business schools like Stern, Ross, and Haas tend to be more selective than the College of Arts & Science. I don't think this makes a difference for UPenn and Cornell. There are schools like Williams, Amherst, Northwestern, Notre Dame, and other Ivy Leagues you could look into and apply to. Swap it with some schools in the target/safety section, like IU, SMU, and Texas A&M. 

 

Add more target schools: Dartmouth, Duke, Columbia, Northwestern, Brown, etc

 

I think you're applying to too many non/semi-target schools. IU Kelley isn't that hard to get into, it should be a safety if you have good stats/extracurriculars. I don't think you should bother with UT-Austin because they don't take that many out-of-state students, let alone McCombs. BC/USC/UCLA are good schools, but they aren't target schools for NYC if that's what you care, target schools for IB. You could be more ambitious/bold in your school choices if you think you have a strong application. If I were you, I would limit my safety to ~2 schools and apply to a few more IB target/T20 schools. 

 

Big piece of advice: you being an international on a visa is really going to hurt your chances. It's sad but it's the reality. And since this is happening, you need to apply to as many targets and reaches you can. Keep 3-4 safeties max (but do it like this, if you got into NOTHING else, would you be happy going to one of them?). 

But yeah otherwise pick out your ED/ ED 2 carefully. I recommend UChicago, Cornell, or Northwestern ED. And UChicago ED 2 if you ED somewhere else and it doesn't work out. Apply to as many schools EA if you can. I'm sure your application is very strong as you are setting your sights on these schools, but just make sure your essays are top notch. Since you have these many schools you will be writing SOOO many essays, so make sure they are all top notch. They can make or break your application and really need to tie together your story. You don't have to apply finance everywhere, consider economics or things related. It depends what story your EC's tell right. I'm sure you know all this. 

 

I knew that applying with a visa would significantly hurt my chances, but I was under the impression that I shouldn't be applying EA or ED to any of my colleges because I'm not a genius or a hard ship case or an athlete, would it increase my chances since I's be applying on the F1 visa?

And also for context, I currently have a 3.925 gpa, my school offers the International Baccalaureate program so I'm doing that as well, I'm self studying for ap macro, competing in debate and a history club this year(I just like history and I watch a lot of debates as it is and thought it would be cool to do a few), and here is a list of my extra curriculars generated by College Vine:
 

  • Managed a successful $2000+ stock portfolio, delivering impressive returns and imparting valuable investment knowledge to my father for over 3+ years
  • Helped a friend start his tutoring business account by getting it up to 20k views from posting Instagram memes about studying and tutoring
  • Founded and led Business Club, introducing students to the world of business through engaging speaker events and fostering entrepreneurial aspirations. - we had our first meeting and around 30 kids showed up because there were a lot of other conflicting meetings, however I expect less students will come to the actual meetings and more people will come to the speaker events we have(which so far include Danny Wall form the U and Bonnie Billings from Midvale city council)
  • As the Social Media Manager for Careers Club, I curated engaging content and increased online presence, showcasing the club's impactful career exploration initiatives. - this one is very recent
  • As the COO of the Robotics Club, I led a team in building our FRC team's robot. Additionally, I developed a sign-in system to efficiently track members' time and attendance. I also was picked for the presentation team to go and present our club's impact to a panel of judges. 
  • Launched an Instagram channel providing daily insights on finance, helping followers stay informed on the latest news, venture capital deals, and business updates. - mostly because I got addicted to Instagram during the summer and I might as well create content as opposed to consume it
  • Explored the intriguing realm of non-fiction through books on psychology and history. Deepened knowledge and broadened perspectives through avid reading. - I just like reading
  • And also, I just recently started posting on Linked in every single day about cool trends(my latest one was on how America was consuming more dairy cheese but less milk and the projected growth of cheese exports by the end of 2024 and how it's already meeting/surpassing that projection) or stuff like venture capital deals
  • I also started a engineering club with my friends (they asked me to be the CFO because they didn't really know about how to get sponsorships)
 

While it is true that ED results are skewed b/c of legacies, athletes, and insane applicants, it doesn't hurt to test your chances. If you want to go to the schools I mentioned, then def ED there. It'll increase your chances a bit and could land you a spot. But definitely EA to everywhere you can, off the top of my head I believe UMich, USC, UNC, UF, and UT Austin have it. This will increase your chances heavily. 

Your stats look good, is your SAT competitive? And the EC's are solid, I see a trend of social media, entrepreneurship, and finance. Lean into the social media and teaching people part heavily. If you can write an essay or two about how you are using social media to teach people the RIGHT things that could be interesting. You seem to have an approach to social media about using it the right way, that could be interesting too. Just don't focus your stuff too much on random clubs and your stock portfolio, those are pretty common and will get you lost in a sea of other Indian applicants. Stand out somehow and show your impact through all these EC's. I think it might be good to say you want to do some career like this, not PE or IB. But about teaching people or being professor or being consultant for companies needing to improve image. Something that's not the basic bs you know. 

Here is what I think college list should look like: 

Reach: UChicago, UPenn (could do Wharton or non-Wharton. IMO might be better to do non-Wharton you have better shot at that), Cornell, Georgetown, Princeton. I say also add 2-3 of these: Northwestern, Amherst, Williams, Brown, Duke, Dartmouth. 

High Target: UCB, UVA, UMich, NYU, USC, UCLA, Vanderbilt, UT Austin (McCombs out of state is so low). I say add WashU and consider ED2, also UNC or Notre Dame. With these schools, for IB just know there will be insane amounts of competition. They place very well but you will have to work your tail off and it'll be a "sweatier" environment just cuz so many kids want to do finance/are nepo/a lot of these places have business schools like Haas, McIntire, and Stern. 

Target: Boston College. I say add UF as well (decent for IB)

Low Target: IU Bloomington (decent for IB but sooo much competition)

Safety: Whatever 3-4 you want. 

 

As someone else already mentioned, your extracurriculars aren't impressive-level but they're good. Storytelling would be significant in differentiating you from other applicants. Pick a school to ED I that you think you have a somewhat chance to get into. If that didn't work out, you still have ED II that you can apply to (e.g., UChicago, Vanderbilt). You should also apply to EA for the public schools (e.g., UMich, UVA) as it would slightly increase your odds of getting in. Admissions is half luck and half skill. AOs could reject you, not because of your extracurriculars or academics, but for "fit" reasons, meaning they don't think you fit into the college. 

 

Do you need financial aid? If so, state schools are a no go, and make sure to apply to all 9 needblind schools: Harvard Yale Princeton MIT Amherst Dartmouth Bowdoin Brown Notre Dame

 

Natus quia velit animi molestiae officia. Eos quae eligendi rerum possimus maxime rem rerum. Non aliquid porro error inventore. Velit dolorem commodi molestiae velit aut omnis perspiciatis ut.

Esse provident sunt in eos. Omnis deserunt et tenetur rem optio explicabo voluptas. Quo quibusdam saepe ipsum non dolor. Quibusdam aut magnam esse iste voluptates.

Praesentium rerum eos dolores quam hic aspernatur ipsum. Quis est veritatis sit rerum ea nesciunt voluptatem. Et esse consequatur est mollitia nemo.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (15) $434
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $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
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
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...”