LIST OF TARGET SCHOOLS FOR NORMAL PEOPLE
Ignore my title - worked at a HF sophomore summer.
I know this topic has been covered in extent but I wanted to chime in. Graduated last year, just started working full time, and have a ton of downtime today. I don't think this topic has ever been covered while taking the "college experience" into account. College is four years where you should have a good time, you have the rest of your life to grind.
THIS IS THE TARGET SCHOOL LIST FOR NORMAL PEOPLE - I.E. COLLEGE SHOULDN'T JUST BE ABOUT GETTING THE "BEST" JOB OR THE "BEST" CLUBS. YOU SHOULD HAVE A GOOD TIME AND BECOME A HUMAN BEING. Trust me when I say that a lot of kids at H/W/P had miserable lives in college just to end up the same as someone who went to UCLA and had a great time for four years.
IF YOU ARE SOMEONE WHO IS NORMAL AND WANTS TO HAVE A GOOD TIME IN COLLEGE WHILE STILL BEING ABLE TO GRIND FOR THE BEST SPOTS ON THE STREET, THEN THIS LIST IS FOR YOU.
TIER 1:
HYPSM - All of these schools are such great brand names that you should sacrifice a bit of your college experience for (sans Stanford, Yale, and MIT freshman year, which actually sounds like a great time).
Duke/Northwestern - If you can rush a frat @ Duke, life's great. Northwestern is a beautiful place and classes aren't too hard for econ majors. Both have a semblance of football/sports life and you can have a great time at both. Also, NUIBC places great.
Also worth noting that all of these schools hold a lot of weight outside of finance, and this should be emphasized for colleges in my opinion as lots of people burn out of finance very quickly.
Tier 2:
Dartmouth - If you love the outdoors and get into a frat ONLY. This place is heaven for four years if that's you.
UC Berkeley/UCLA/UM Ross/UT McCombs/USC/UW Foster/ND Mendoza/UNC KF/UVA - All super fun state schools (I know ND and USC are private). Lots of student population, great traditional college experience, bunch of fun for four years, especially if you rush, and you become a well-rounded person that is much more important than any technical ability in this job. Also all of these schools will not hold you back from placing anywhere you want if you work for it and network well. Many also have good clubs that place well on opposite coasts. Also, you don't HAVE to be from Ross/McCombs/Foster/Mendoza/KF to place, just makes it a hell of a lot easier.
Vandy - Nashville is great, good weather, smart kids, SEC school.
Columbia - Places great, in NYC but still have a campus and frats and all that good stuff.
Penn/Wharton - Going to get MS for putting W T2 but it's not that great of an experience - everybody is focused on finance, need to grind it out to get a good seat, and honestly the clubs aren't all that. Lots of nepo. Pros are good campus and majority of non-W kids don't have a stick up their ass and are really fun to talk to. You still have the football games and the tailgates and whatnot. Frats are good. If there was a single bone in my body that wasn't 100% set on finance, I would honestly take a lot of majors in Penn engineering over W and just recruit banking anyways. Gives you a lot broader base.
Tier 3:
Georgetown - Have heard that it's pretty fun if you make the right friends. Beautiful campus, nice location, fun time. Some kids hate it. YMMV.
Brown/Caltech - Personally not a fan, but very introverted school with a bunch of flexibility in the classes you can take (Brown) means that the kids that love it really love it. Same with Caltech but really small place leads to very unique experience. Either love it or hate it.
Cornell/NYU Stern - Probably the two most doomer schools on this list. Cornell is just a plain depressing environment, not really the kids that make it that way. Honeslty if you rush a frat and are Dyson, life can be pretty great. Stern is just a Wharton without a campus and sports, which might not mean much but goes a long way for school spirit and people looking back on their college experience with joy. Have yet to meet a Stern/Cornell alum (for the most part) that actually enjoyed their college experience. Also step down from Stern to NYU is probably the biggest out of any school mentioned if you ever decide you don't want to do finance. With that being said, Stern/Dyson place lights out.
UChi - Great school, pretty depressing and they work you like hell. D3 so not much sports presence. Frats are eh. Not the best college experience but places great.
Rice - Haven't met anyone that actually liked their time that much, also pretty isolating place from what I've heard.
BC - Not the greatest school but can place banking if you work hard. Pros is Really fun time especially if you're from NE.
Tier 4:
JHU - Almost nobody interested in finance, also miserable experience w/grade deflation so keep that in mind. Great school, just really depressing.
Washu/CMU - Neither really place in banking and pretty isolating + depressing from what I've heard.
UCSD/UCSB/UCI - Did my SA in LA and honestly, you'd be surprised that kids at these schools can place. California is amazing and hope to go back there soon, and all of these colleges are pretty great in terms of experience (with UCSB leading the pack). You have to work hard to place, but it's def possible.
Kelley - If you break IBW and rush a frat, probably one of the best college experiences you can get while still being able to place in the GS/MS/EVR/PJT level. Those guys are so drunk 24/7, it's awesome lmao. If you don't break IBW you're fucked.
Anyways, I have to get back to work. BUT THE POINT IS there is no point in being miserable for your four years of college. I have worked with guys from Wharton and I have worked with guys from Kelley, and can personally attest to the guys from Kelley being much more fun and enjoyable to hang out with outside of work (which gets you a lot farther than you would imagine). Finance in and of itself isn't that difficult in terms of technical knowledge, and who you are as a person does matter. Don't go somewhere where you will hate your life for four years. I personally went to a school in Tier 2 and had a good time. I got looks from all banks because all my coffee chats went great, and was able to land FT at a top 3 BB/EB in NYC in a great group as well. Life's not as fun now as it was in college and I wish I could go back, but there's people in my group that don't and I think that's a really sad thing. You have the rest of your life to put your head down and grind, no need for it to happen now.
TLDR: GO SOMEWHERE WHERE YOU WILL HAVE FUN. COLLEGE BRAND NAME ISN'T EVERYTHING IF YOU'RE MISERABLE. LIFE IS HARD. COLLEGE SHOULDN'T BE.
i go to Duke, its pretty obvious that u go to Duke or maybe northwestern based on this post but u should take it down before the wharton columbia and uchicago monkey shit brigade comes in. i also think that all of the ivy/ivy+ schools place the same so this list is okay if you wanna have fun in school + place fine, and if thats the criteria, i would put brown and dartmouth with Duke and NW
lol I went to a school in T2. I have a bunch of friends that went to Duke and I visited a couple times. All of these guys placed great and had a good time. Didn't go to Duke or NU. But I think they're pretty great schools and have a good college experience at the same time.
Seems like your list is for heavy drinkers and frat dudes. While that might appeal to some, others it won't. I'd really say everyone should go for the culture they like most in a school.
If you add UCSD/UCSB/UCI, you have to add Baruch.
I goto one of the schools that “work you hard” and “is depressing”. Honestly, you can get out of the working hard, personally I enjoy it a bit. I think maybe it isn’t for everyone but I love it
Sleeper school, Santa Clara University. The ends are extreme but places BB/EB/MM banking very well, T1 college experience in terms of fun, in Silicon Valley, etc. The network is very strong
Yeah, met a guy from Vista who went to SCU for his undergrad. Like the Baruch comment, I just don't know enough about the school to actually make a comment on it.
Was a member of their investment banking club even though I didn't go to the school - great, welcoming group of people.
Placements have steadily been improving over the years and firms seem to be taking a greater interest based on all the campus visits I've been seeing.
lol I know a guy at W who did 0 clubs, and landed BX Tacops. I have friends at H who run around in suits for a month to get into a club.
You seem to attend Duke or NW and are proud of your school (as you should be, I sure as hell am of mine), but it seems you don’t actually know what goes on at many of these schools.
I think so much is parroted on WSO, but in reality are not true. My advice is any top school can be great for finance and great for fun, and any school can be absolutely miserable. If you are someone who has no interest in finance and then suddenly walks into it, perhaps Y or P are pretty good for that. But in the end, you will have to work your ass off sophomore year whether you want to or not
Not saying you can't land great things without a club, just saying that the college you choose should be based on more than just the job you're going to get after. If you're smart and go to one of these schools, you can land most things. I go to a school in T2 - I just think Duke/NU are on the same tier as ivies recruiting wise (for the most part) but are more laid back and fun.
I think I get what youre trying to say, but then for example there should be no reason to rank H as high as YPSM as it consistently has far worse college experience. Imho a high schooler interested in finance but not 100% sure should just aim for the ivies in general and then some peer schools like Duke and NU. That being said, if you care about where you place but you are assuming youre just an average guy rather than finance hardo your argument is fallacious; an average W will objectively place better than an average NU kid
Recruiting out of W is not as great as people think. Could just be nepo. Would take H any day.
That's cute i guess? The only equally impressive thing I've seen thus far was someone who got Viking out of P, besides that W does better. Not that it matters much though, W, H, P, whatever, youre probably fine at that level the hard part is getting there
Freshman at H who just went through the comping process for a few pre-professional clubs and I can confirm. However, there are still a plethora of clubs that aren’t very exclusive/elitist that are still great, and some of the best clubs on campus even have an open comp process.
No one at Penn goes to the football games lol
Would bump CMU to tier 3, been seeing a lot of ppl placing well recently
So far, I have consistently enjoyed (and been impressed by the well roundedness of) the grads from Duke, Northwestern, Michigan, Vandy, Wisconsin, Boston College, Fordham
As someone who goes to Brown, I don't think it's as introverted as you might think. But I agree our parties aren't the greatest. I generally agree with your list, although some of these universities' dual-degree and more selective programs (e.g. for W — M&T, Huntsman, LSM, or for Stern — BTE) will push students within those programs up a tier due to the plethora of resources/classes/network they now have access to (exceptions for newer programs ofc).
Can anyone add thoughts on USC?
Very expensive, but a good school for LA IB and West Coast IB. Large school body and decent amount of alumni. I would consider it a target/semi target. Definetley not Stanford level but good school nonetheless. Very expensive tuition.
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