Is Northwestern Underrated for Undergrad

Northwestern is a T10 undergrad school and is much more professionally oriented than schools like Caltech, JHU, and MIT, but it places worse than Georgetown and UVa. It has Kellogg so I just don’t understand why it’s so overlooked especially with it’s proximity to Chicago

7 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Poor banking pipeline but massive consulting pipeline. Not underrated, just not oriented towards what WSO evaluates against.

I am an NU alum, I absolutely loved my time there. I could not have had more fun had I gone back knowing what I know now and did it all over again. It was just so wonderful through and through. Learned so much, have lifelong friends, explored all my interests and picked up new hobbies and sports, stay connected with the school to this today, I mean it was just the best. I'm not comparing it against other schools, I'm just sharing my experience.

 

do you think NU would be good for more quantitative careers like quant research and tech. Its journalism and consulting focus makes me hesitant

 

Chiming in as a Northwestern alum - Northwestern is absolutely STEM oriented. You won't have any trouble getting a job at one of the FAANGs or other SF-based tech companies. On the quant side, at least when I was there, AQR did on-campus recruiting (one of the founders, Kabiller, is a NU alum) and almost all the major prop trading firms in Chicago come to campus. 

 

I think the answer is Northwestern undergrads are less likely to go to NY due to proximity to Chicago and it lacks a finance major and that makes it appear “weaker” on this forum. Much in the way Stanford isn’t considered a banking school. All east coast schools will place better because they are located on the east coast. 

That said, in truth, I think it’s pretty easy to get most anywhere coming from Northwestern honestly/ I personally know people that went everywhere from Qatalyst, to CVP, to Goldman/evercore, to Blair (basically an NU circle jerk), to Blackstone.

People talk about NU being consulting focused and while maybe that used to be true, I don’t really think that remains the case based on the last 4ish years. A solid proportion go into banking from NU and I don’t know anyone that couldn’t break in that didn’t have some egregious flaw in their resume/ approach.
 

 

Ut harum aliquam qui explicabo necessitatibus id. Consequatur laudantium est hic ab magnam error. Ea tempore et et nam. Sed reprehenderit et voluptates dolorum et quas amet voluptatibus. Omnis saepe est reprehenderit.

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%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 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
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
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...”