Less Selective Target Schools
I’m currently a senior interested in pursuing high finance. Right now I’m applying to Boston College, Georgetown, Emory, WashU, and Fordham. The issue is that they’re all selective and would cost like 80k a year (with the exception of Fordham which would be an easy clap and gives national merit full rides).
I’m looking for backup schools to apply to that are still targets or semi-targets, or that at least provide some route to high finance. Its preferable if they’re cheap or give merit scholarships. It is also preferable if attending won’t make me want to kill myself.
I don’t really qualify for need based aid.
Midd alum here - undergrad experience was awesome, and the alumni network was instrumental during recruiting and ultimately when landing an offer. My bank is absolutely stacked with Midd kids!
With acceptance rates between like 9-15%, the majority of NESCACs are not necessarily "less selective". Great schools and highly recommended, of course, but not really what OP is asking for. The Venn diagram of "acceptable" students at Ivies and NESCACs like Williams, Middlebury, Amherst, Wesleyan, Bowdoin is basically a single circle.
Try public schools like Indiana, Rutgers, Ohio State, etc. High acceptance rates, alumni at every bank, and programs that you can take advantage of if you know you want to do IB, which it seems like you do.
Indiana is barely a semi target - the others are super non target unless you want to work for KeyBanc in Ohio
don’t think Indiana will recruit well in a recession with smaller class sizes (more focus on target students then)
washU sucks in STL and for social scene
UGA is actually ok for ATL banking
those are all non-target schools where there are tons of people in good groups on the street.
Yeah, maybe you won’t get PJT RSSG but I guess you’ll have to settle for one of the dozens of other banks that are filled with state school alum. Also, you’ll have way more fun at OSU/Penn State than half those other schools
Penn State places fairly well in finance IIRC.
We placed at Evercore this year
Bro said Rutgers 💀LMFAOOO
UT Austin also has good NY and Houston placements. They also have great IB clubs
If you get Georgetown or BC, those are worth the tuition imo (if your financial situation allows). WashU is great school but haven’t seen a ton of alums in banking. On the lesser known side, SMU could be worth a look.
Before people MS me, I’m not saying it’s a target by any means but the Alternative Asset Management program (finance honors banking program) places very well in Houston and NYC IB, especially per capita.
Basically alumni at every bank in Houston and top kids have had great placements in NYC (GS TMT, MS M&A, Evercore, Centerview, PJT, Moelis, among a ton of other solid banks). And after analyst programs have had some fantastic PE exits over the last couple years too (Advent, Bain, Warburg, Clearlake, TA, Stonepeak, Madison Dearborn). Can check LinkedIn for validation.
Super generous with scholarships, fun school, Dallas is a great city and the girls are hot and rich (need I say more)
Other schools with good placement: Michigan, Texas, and UVA if you haven’t considered them already, but all aren’t easy to get into
Any thoughts on UF?
Good for ATL / Charlotte regional focus, less so if you want to end up in NY.
I go to UF. School has two main student run funds that place well, just have to get into those. As far as location, ATL/Charlotte are common like above said, but plenty go for NY. Reputation is also improving.
Edit: Also, I transferred from a small private semi target in the north east (tufts/middlebury/bowdoin) and I've been pleased with my decision.
Seconding SMU. Alts program is really good. Have worked with a few alts alum and they all were very good technically and socially.
WashU places well for those who want IB, most do consulting, though.
Would add Emory too
Second SMU. Alts is great. I worked with a few people in it and am pretty impressed.
Tulane is very slept on - Freeman sends dozens of kids to BBs every year, plus it's a top party school. Known for giving out generous merit scholarships as well.
SMU is worth looking into IMO as well. Kind of a dumb rich kid school, but easy to get merit scholarships and Cox's internship program and alumni network is really strong, particularly in the south.
I'd toss Bowdoin in as well, Notre Dame
LACs like Williams and Amherst are pretty slept on. While still incredibly selective, they're easier to get into than their larger peers, and they have great Wall Street placement and really strong alumni networks.
I feel like though they have slightly higher acceptance rate, that's because there are less yolo shoot-their-shot candidates applying like there are tons for the mid-tier ivies. I wager a larger % of the Williams/Amherst applicants are from top private schools in the NE. So there are less applicants, but the applicant quality is more closely clustered to the average ivy applicant quality rather than a large pool with a wide range (e.g. the applicant pool for Columbia or UPenn)
Take a look at some of the patriot league schools: Colgate, Lehigh, Bucknell, Lafayette, Holy Cross.
Which of those would be the best options?
Any thoughts on UMiami, GW, UPittsburg, Georgia Tech?
Tbh you probably won't have a shot at Emory, WashU, or Georgetown if you feel like you have zero shot at Ivies. Those schools are for people with ivy level applications who get unlucky during the admissions cycle. However, if you get in go to one of those
I think the best on your list are Georgetown and Emory
The closest to your criteria in my opinion are Michigan, IU, Penn State and UT. Would be cheaper and all have a vast alumni network in finance. IU and Penn State also have the Investment Banking Workshop and Nittany Lion Fund, respectively, which would be crucial for putting you on the right track. I'm sure there are comparable clubs at the others but don't know them off the top of my head. It was mentioned before but the NESCAC's would be good too (Middlebury, Williams, Amherst) though they are smaller and pretty selective. On the list you are already applying to, BC and G'town would be best, Fordham is decent but because of location and demographics (rich NYC suburb kids with family-generated finance network) they are overrepresented in alumni network which is a plus. I'd be aware that WashU and Emory don't place as well as you may think and are known to be very stressful academically. And I agree with the above comments on SMU being sneaky solid.
Generally correct commentary. However, Emory places in every shop and is not stressful academically. WashU has a less established pipeline than Emory but have heard that it is similarly not stressful.
I disagree about Emory. It places in every bank(BB, MM, EB) and has multiple PE exits(point72, blackstone, BlackRock, Ares, Roark, Vista and more) and has an established pipeline into basically every EB not to mention that its a top target in the south along with Duke. The competition is really less and clubs and resources are abundant. I think you're underrating WashU too but they don't have a pipeline as established as Emory. I would say its easier to break in from Emory/WashU than BC when taking into account the competition and opportunities. Emory has a ton going for it in the south and WashU in Chicago. Georgetown is the best
Lots of good suggestions in this thread. I would add that Villanova punches well above its weight and is less selective than BC/GTown. However they gave me 0 financial aid with a 34 ACT (although I totally half assed my application), so I didn’t end up going bc I don’t think it’s worth full tuition
How much did you get paid to post this, shill? Fucking loser. You sound like an advertisement. Quit messing with kids livelihoods.
Buddy, take 10 deep breaths and go touch some grass. I've met a good number of Nova kids in NYC investment banking and S&T. By no means did I call it a target school.
Have you heard of the Bridges Program at Dartmouth? I am not an alumnus but it seems to help increase one's chances of landing a high finance gig no matter where you attend college. Not free but may be worth it if you land at a non-target. I would consider the program as a second UG major from the Tuck School of Business.
claremont mckenna
pomona
vanderbilt
rice
davidson
anyone go to or are alumni of these schools that can provide insight?^^^^^
Google acceptance rates for these schools. The top three are lower than Cornell and close to par with Brown/Dartmouth.
Claremont has good placement in finance geography-wise.
Claremont and Pomona are part of the same university group and are exceedingly difficult to get into. Really bright people and good track out if you can get in
Michigan
SMU has the best placement per capita for Houston IB. If you don't like your chances at a lot of these schools with 20% acceptance rates then come to SMU and you'll almost certainly land a gig in Houston IB.
This. Houston blows but you can live like a king with IN comp
This might be a weird take, but transferring schools is honestly underrated. I know people who’ve gone from whatever state school to Vandy, USC, UC Berkeley (more community college transfers), Cornell, etc with a 3.9/4.0 from an easy school with decent ECs and a well crafted story. Obviously not the ideal path and there’s something to be said about missing/transferring freshman year but it’s a viable route if it comes down to it.
Look into applying ED to Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, and non-Wharton Penn. They all have ED acceptance rates at about 20% or even higher. Decent odds and all have great placement. Don’t underestimate the financial aid packages of top schools. There’s a reason their yields are so high.
The top state schools (Berkeley, UMich, UVA) are also reasonably easy to get into ED and have great placement but they generally have less money to give.
would check your assumptions on the state schools. unless you're in-state, getting into any of those is a tall task even with ED
High ED rates at ivies are attributable to most ED applicants being Legacy/Athlete/Valedictorians/Diversity Questbridge. Don’t be misled by “higher” acceptance for ED, it’s definitely not a shoe-in.
BYU lol
UVA, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Emory, UC Berkeley, USC, WashU
Cornell? I think you'd have a decent chance. And UCB Haas (they recently become four-years). But if you're interested in high finance, obviously also try for Wharton. Don't give up hope! Slightly below Wharton, Northwestern might be worth a shot!
I’m in the same position as you. I have Penn State, Michigan State University, and Fordham as far as backups. My targets are UPenn, UMich, and NYU. I plan on transferring to one of the targets after my freshmen or sohphomore from one of my backups if I don’t make the cut for freshmen admission.
They're not all less selective but I would throw in Bentley, Babson and BU.
I'd apply to the ivies regardless. You never know, an admissions officer can be having a good day and throw you a bone.
BYU all the way. Paying 3k a semester and I'd say it's semi-target. We’ve got roughly 30 undergrads placed into banking this year and there’s a solid investment banking club there
Is BYU fun
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