Investment Banking schools for bad students

Hello I am a senior in high school and to be frank I am not the best student, I have a 3.5 gpa and a 27 act and I have read enough on here to know that that just won’t cut it for top target schools. I have also read that lower tier schools generally have a more regional effect in ib. I am a cheap guy and would rather not go to nyc but would not hesitate to take an offer!! I know that banking in Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, and Charlotte is a lot cheaper and will allow me to save more. So what schools could I get into that would give me a chance at ib in the south or Chicago. I was thinking Texas a&m for Houston, uiuc for Chicago (would say Indiana but I heard the ibw is extremely competitive), uga for Atlanta and I don’t know for Charlotte haha. Getting into unc out of state is tough let alone with my stats. Do you guys have any suggestions for schools/advice on which schools perform the best regionally? Thanks a ton in advance!!!

30 Comments
 
Most Helpful

I commented on your southern IB one, and after this, I'm gonna confirm SMU and add TCU, Tulane, Baylor, and other private schools. Get better at school, that isn't easy, but you have time to improve. I would probably say stay away from public schools simply because the competition of the sheer numbers there will be 10-20+ kids with close to perfect grades competing against you. Stick to private schools, preferably with very tight alumni networks, and start networking early.

 

isnt it easier to get accepted out of state because you pay more? if you have the money you might be able to get into USC which is an IB powerhouse on the west coast. my friends at USC that wanted IB ended up at Lazard HC, JPM MA, and HL RX

What concert costs 45 cents? 50 Cent feat. Nickelback.
 

Out of State schools are probably harder to get into, since many states have laws limiting the number of out of state students the schools can accept. That said, you're probably right that schools want to maximize the number of out of state students they recruit given the restraints.

USC Marshall/Viterbi is great for IB; when I visited for scholarship weekend, upperclassmen were telling me about how a bunch of people place into Tech Banking up in SF (Most notably GS/MS TMT). USC as a school, however, is pretty difficult to get into nowadays. Acceptance rate for the whole undergrad program is something like 13% , and acceptance rates for Business and Engineering undergrad programs are below 10%.

 

USC is private and selective, UCLA is public and potentially easier to get into out of state. They also don’t consider freshman year of high school which could help or hurt you. Placement has been good from UCLA this year, obviously LA and SF and some Houston/NYC.

Pick what city you’d eventually want to live in (your other thread said Houston, so UT, TCU, SMU, Baylor would all set you up well) and go from there.

Array
 

I am considering going to my state school for a year and trying to transfer to Cornell ilr, uva and then Mcintire, or Vanderbilt. I have read that those have relatively high acceptance rates (30 percent) and would give me the best shot at ib any thoughts?

 

Cornell transfer rate is misleading. Most of those transfers come from a "guaranteed transfer plan" from another school (mostly Fordham I believe).

Increase the ACT score and take a look at transferring to Villanova. I would consider Nova to be one of the more transfer-friendly schools.

 

I transferred in Vanderbilt after my first year at a non target private school with 1340 SAT and 3.9 GPA. Get a high GPA and u have a good chance

 

@stay.hungry and everyone else I have one last question because I think I have pretty much decided on staying in Texas how would u rank smu tcu and Baylor in landing ib gigs in Houston I have heard that most people from smu are in some alternative assets program or something and some other programs. Do banks only recruit from those programs? And how do Baylor and tcu fair in Houston ib?

 

UK universities will only look at APs as it is akin to their A Levels. If you have three or four 5/5 on AP tests and/or can get your teachers to predict 5/5 on more of them, you can get into U.K. targets (Oxbridge/LSE/UCL/Imperial/Warwick Econ) or semi targets (Durham/Bristol/Exeter/Kings)

Additionally, Canadian schools only look at your senior year grades + ECs. So apply for their good schools (Western Ivey, Queen’s Commerce, UToronto, UBC, etc)

I wish you the best of luck and don’t think about it too hard, still enjoy your youth!

 

This is only true if you attend a community college in California. Transfering from anywhere else is just as competitive, if not more competitive, than high school applications.

The benefit of USC is after 30 college credits, they no longer look at your high school record, which can be beneficial to those that did not do the best in high school.

 

Odio a voluptatem laboriosam asperiores corrupti consequatur aliquid. Incidunt aut quos in eum sed tempora. Eaque numquam accusamus optio voluptates cum. Dicta quia ex voluptate dicta. Odio aperiam illo eos rerum ut. Placeat delectus quo nisi eaque reiciendis sit.

 

Totam est quia libero voluptatum soluta eius ab. Autem et et culpa. Ipsum ut expedita distinctio ut tempore maiores odit.

Sint animi aut sed rerum rerum eos. Veritatis repellendus numquam ut modi placeat. Nemo iste ut eius et culpa. Consequatur aliquid quidem dolore eius dolor. Laudantium voluptatibus omnis similique maiores.

Voluptatem assumenda vero repellendus saepe est. Quia veniam fugit autem hic voluptatem. Modi dolor et sequi odio est pariatur aut. Natus qui consequatur culpa molestias facere repudiandae. Reprehenderit dolor ipsa qui vitae doloremque. Et et pariatur dolorem enim enim explicabo id.

Asperiores dicta ut aperiam quia. Magni voluptatum ipsa fuga sed eligendi adipisci. Nobis omnis et repellendus dolorem dolor qui.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (50) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $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
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
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...”