Investment Banking Target School Rankings
Tier 1 (Targets++) - Harvard, The Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania), Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Tier 1.5 (Targets+) - University of Pennsylvania (non-Wharton), Columbia University, Duke University, University of Chicago, Dartmouth College
Tier 2 (Targets) - Brown University, Northwestern University, Cornell University, New York University (Stern), University of Michigan (Ross), Georgetown University (McDonough)
Tier 2.5 (Semi-Targets++) - University of Virginia (McIntire), UC Berkeley (Haas), University of Notre Dame (Mendoza), Emory University (Goizueta), University of Southern California (Marshall), University of Texas Austin (McCombs)
Tier 3 (Semi-Targets+) - Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt University, WashU, UCLA
Tier 4 (Semi-Targets) - UNC, Carnegie Mellon, Boston College, Rice, Indiana (Investment Banking Workshop ONLY), BYU, others...
Just curious about people’s opinions on this. Please be civil, I’m just doing this to hear some honest, well thought out arguments.
**UPDATE - MAKING CHANGES BASED ON SOLID SUGGESTIONS. THE PURPOSE OF THIS LIST IS TO FINALLY MAKE SOMETHING ON THIS SITE THAT HELPS KIDS TRYING TO BREAK INTO NYC INVESTMENT BANKING, NOT INFLATE OR DEFLATE SCHOOLS BASED ON PERSONAL OPINIONS/VIEWS. PLEASE KEEP THIS IN MIND IF YOU COMMENT.***
Well, it's always a bit of a jungle out there when it comes to ranking schools, isn't it? But let's swing into this.
Your list seems to align quite well with the information I've seen. The Ivy League schools and their equivalents like Stanford and MIT are often considered the top tier. These schools have strong relationships with Wall Street banks and offer robust on-campus recruiting.
The second tier you've listed also makes sense. These are prestigious institutions with strong business programs. They may not have the same level of Wall Street presence as the Ivy Leagues, but their students are still highly sought after.
The third tier, or semi-targets, are also strong schools. They might not have the same level of on-campus recruiting as the targets, but they often do well regionally.
Remember, though, that while attending a target school can certainly open doors, it's not the only path to Wall Street. Networking, internships, and demonstrating your knowledge and passion for the industry can also get you there. So, whether you're at a target, semi-target, or a non-target school, don't let that define your career aspirations. Keep swinging for those branches!
"super targets" LMAO
I mean if you get to choose between anything in Tier 2 and something in Tier 1, which would you choose? Wharton and Harvard will always be on a different level in terms of recruitment.
Congrats on Indiana! Your school is definitely as good, if not better, than the likes of Vanderbilt and UC Berkeley, despite having a >10x higher acceptance rate. Enjoy faking diversity to land an SA role at Jefferies!
Lmao fuck Indiana
Though I have no connection with Indiana, I have to agree with this view. If you are in the Investment Banking Workshop, you may have a shot at some decent firms (nothing truly outstanding - GS, MS, JPM, etc.). If not, it's a non-target. I honestly am debating taking it off the list entirely.
Do you know of any EU targets?
Not that I care about rankings considering I'm a few years out but I think people always overestimate Yale and Princeton. I think Wharton and Harvard are probably on a slightly higher tier than the rest of the Ivy League, and then the other 6 are kind of around the same, in my opinion, for IB recruiting.
Interesting. So you don't think the name of Yale or Princeton makes an impact? I would have thought that kind of cache would be extremely useful for placement.
It's chicken vs egg. Current student body preferences cause people there to not want to pursue finance as much so companies have less OCR, slightly fewer recent alumni, etc. But that doesn't mean that students there who want to go into IB are disadvantaged
delete
Within tier 3 I would categorize some as tier 2.5 such as UC Berkeley, UVA, Notre Dame, Emory, USC, and UT Austin
Agreed. I have seen solid placement from Emory/USC. Definitely not as strong as true targets though. The issue with UC-Berkeley and USC is that their footprint is predominantly on the west coast, which is great for people trying to establish themselves there (LA, etc.). For the east coast (NYC, etc.), only Stanford's prestige is enough to place well, in my opinion.
Valid point. I would definitely put Berkeley, UVA, Notre Dame, and Emory as 2.5. USC and UT are debatable but could still be there
Thoughts on liberal arts schools like Middlebury, Amherst, Williams, Tufts, etc
I mean I know that they are extremely selective (especially places such as Williams, Middlebury, etc.). Honestly, I just haven't had enough exposure to them to know for sure where to rank them. I am open to hearing more here.
[Removed]
Here are some adjustments:
Move Cal and Virginia up a tier
Move Georgetown down a tier
Swap UChicago and Stanford (specific for IB, different in PE/MBB/VC context
Please turn these comments in the next 10 minutes
I could see UVA and maybe Cal being a little higher, but I don't know that Georgetown should be lower, they have strong placement in NYC,
Move Berkeley and UVA up a tier.
Move Northwestern and Brown down a tier (they are definitely more prestigious than a lot of other schools on the list but they place worse).
Move USC and Emory down a tier.
Interesting…
Hey man, y'all can throw MS all you want... I'm just saying what I see college representation-wise at my MF and other MFs at the AN/ASO level. I guarantee you that there are substantially more kids from UVA and Berkeley at these funds than from Northwestern or Brown. Like not even close.
If this is about banking, though, idrk. I was never aut enough to have to do that monkey shit like y'all lmao.
I would have thought that the aggregate reputations of Northwestern and Brown would allow them to get kids looks... but then again this goes back to the whole discussion I had on this thread about student interest and academic offerings being helping to determine which schools are truly targets. I would love to hear more in this vein... please, everyone keep the information coming!
Northwestern’s IB placement has been picking up massively recently, even placing comfortably as well as schools like Duke et al in recent years. Check NUIBC for the last few cycles’ placement, was sth like 7x to BX, countless to other EBs/BBs. And NUIBC isn’t a competitive club like other traditionally finance-focused schools. The guys running the club do a great job of nurturing new batches and building relationships with professionals. Stereotypically Northwestern was the MBB consulting school, but perhaps as a result the IB scene is smaller and more tight-knit.
Breaking into NYC/Chi IB from Northwestern isn’t hard at all. I’d confidently place Northwestern in the solid target tier.
Though I will say that because of its recent rise, the school may lag behind a bit in the PE/VC/HF scene. But Im sure in the coming years that will change too.
What about Brown?
Emory and USC are fine where they are. USC could be moved down a tier arguably but Emory should stay where it is
It really pains me to say this as I hate the school with a passion, but Texas A&M probably deserves to be on the Tier 3 category. That alumni network is no joke, and all the Houston-based banks will do OCR there (not sure if this is strictly a NYC list, which if that is the case, feel free to exclude because I do think it's almost entirely Houston). Additionally, from what I gather about Indiana it is strictly the IBW kids that comprise their "Semi-Target" status which if that is the case I would throw in SMU in Dallas due to to their similar Alts program.
This is a list of targets for New York City specifically.
A school that seems to place extremely well into IB is BYU; I'm not quite sure why this is, but a lot of different groups are stacked with kids from BYU. Almost 98% of the school is Mormon; I would assume that Alumni push extremely hard for them to be able to land the job.
Yeah the BYU alumni network is incredibly strong from what I've heard... enough to place people compensate for the school's overall reputation. I know they have some connections at Goldman Sachs, but beyond that, I am not sure what other top firms they have connections at. Essentially a Mormon Investment Banking Workshop (i.e. Indiana). Would love to hear more here, don't hesitate to volunteer information. Remember, the whole purpose of this thread is to help other people succeed.
From what I know, they also have a lot of people in other BBs, e.g. Barclays Tech group in SF; out of 20-something analysts, 4 of them are from BYU. Pretty good placement when it comes to MS as well. Don't really know about the other banks, but seems to have become a semi-target + over the last few years due to their incredibly strong Alumni Network.
it’s cause we’re like the mafia
***UPDATE - I MADE SOME CHANGES THAT INCORPORATED SOME OF THE SUGGESTIONS ON HERE AS WELL AS THOSE OF PEOPLE I KNOW AND MY OWN RESEARCH. PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO ADD YOUR OWN THOUGHTS - BUT PLEASE BE REMEMBER TO BE RESPECTFUL. THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF THIS THREAD IS TO BENEFIT OTHERS, SO BEAR THAT IN MIND.***
Not sure why UVA and Cal are so high, given their pretty mediocre per capita placement. Not saying they're bad schools, but they're not on par with Stern/Ross/McDonough or ahead of Mendoza/McCombs. I know not everyone wants to do IB, but even looking at just Econ majors, their numbers aren't impressive.
Anecdotally, Stanford & doesn't place very well for IB, though I'm sure they kill it for buyside roles. There was a thread on WSO a few months ago re Stanford's placements.
Also think Northwestern & Chicago should also be a tier down and ND & Texas should be a tier up if you're looking purely at IB placements.
He's not looking purely at placement but ease of placement based on prestige. Texas should be a level down. Texas had "good" placement because it's gigantic with hardos.
Exactly. Target schools are determined by recruitment pipelines, student interest, alumni networks and yes, school prestige. Especially in a field like finance, you want your school to impress people. Which is why I said earlier that even though there are certain large schools where it makes sense to attend if you are committed to finance (i.e. non-Wharton UPenn, Cornell, NYU, Michigan, depending on where you get in), there are others that are only on the list due to their massive size. Ask yourself honestly whether you would rather attend, and tell people you attend, one of the four schools I listed above, or UT-Austin? Not trying to disparage anyone's school here but they are harder to get into, and certain facts are just facts.
As a Cal alum in finance, one thing I will note is that even though per capita placement may not be as great because we're a massive school, it's not a great way of looking at success in placements because there aren't many kids who are actually gunning for IB from Cal. A vast majority of kids are going for SWE, Data Science, AI/ML Eng, PM, etc etc. When you consider actually how little kids are interested in finance relative to some of these other schools I think the placement is actually very solid.
Move Marshall and UT down to 3, and Berkeley and UVA down to 2.5. Switch WashU and UCLA with UNC and BC and it's correct.
Move USC down one to 3. Move Northwestern, Berkeley, and UVA to 2.5. UNC to 3 and UCLA to 4
Put ASU in S++++ tier
Is this a joke or does ASU have somewhat decent placement. I'm thinking of transferring there but wasn't sure if I should because I figured it wouldn't be good. I'm smart but don't get any financial aid and have to pay for school so can't afford to go to any targets really. I'm debating between ASU and FIU most likely.
If I’m going to be honest, neither of those schools are going to place anywhere. I’ll leave you with what someone told me once: there is no better investment than a quality education, because it pays for itself over time. Apply to prestigious schools, and go. If you do, there may be some debt, but that debt will be a rounding error long term.
Undergrad or MBA?
if you’re diverse, ASU can def place you to any BB. Have seen it happen last couple cycles.
Years ago, there was a list at Goldman (perhaps the original); largely kept internal, but it was treated as a hard-line, complete list of schools they would consider.
At the time, it was viewed as "Don't bother..." if not attending a school on that list, along with other criteria (e.g. schools, strict timeline, etc).
I believe there was an internal policy to that effect (at the time); and I remember having a conversation with a few GS people, who (back then) confirmed it was (apparently) the internal perspective, according to them.
I don't know how strict of a Yes/No rule was actually applied, but I remember seeing an actual list of schools (on paper) -- this was a long time ago (20+ years ago).
From what I understand, that internal list from GS, later evolved into the Target vs. Non-Target classification, we use today throughout the industry.
I could be wrong, but I think that might have been where the Target vs. Non-Target classification started.
To answer the OP, it would seem that attempting to find that original list, would provide a good foundation for this discussion thread.
(Just an idea, to help as a foundation to the list in this discussion).
P.S. I'm a bit surprised by some of the schools mentioned here... I didn't think some of them were regarded so strongly -- are these accurate, lately? (I don't remember seeing anyone from several on the OP list, but I may have overlooked it, etc).
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