MBA Tier List for Investment Banking
What would be considered the MBA Tier List for Investment Banking with each programs strengths and weaknesses for IB Recruiting?
I am interested in hearing WSO’s opinion as other MBA forums are not finance focused.
We have 2000 threads on this exact topic. Pls leave forum.
Deleted.
Forget trying to add value on this forum. Going anon and lurking/comedic comments from now on.
MIT is a better school for IB recruiting than Stern. If you're looking to get into IB, you should care less about the total number of kids going into IB and more about the % of those that want IB that get the top jobs.
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A lot of really stupid things being said above, aside from the comment about there being 1000 threads on this already. It's really this simple:
Any other questions, look at employment reports.
Goodbye
OP here.
I should have been a bit more clear of my understanding as yes I have read the forums, employment reports, and talked to students, however as someone who hasn’t gone through recruitment yet, I have a limited perspective.
To me it seems like Wharton, Columbia, Booth were the top 3 as they have the most student interest + alumni at banks.
HBS and Stanford I haven’t seen as much info on though obviously they have great overall reputations. It seems like the student interest isn’t there. Curious if there are any current students or alumni (or recruiters) who could comment.
Stern lots of student interest and alumni at banks but it seemed like to me it was a step below Columbia (though to be fair I have spoken to fewer Stern students than Columbia).
Kellogg and Sloan have less students interested but seemed to do well at BB, less so at EB with some boutiques not even showing up to campus .
Kellogg is sending 5 to EVR full-time this year. EVR have a ~30 people associate class. Kellogg has 30-40 people recruiting for investment banking each year. Don't believe everything you read from employment reports and WSO. Talk to alum from each school.
Disclaimer: I went to CBS
The main difference between schools is the opportunity and the recruiting process.
Opportunity: The number of people who go to each bank. Wharton/Columbia/Booth all send ~10-15 each to GS every year. NYU sends fewer but I believe that is just a function of much smaller class size. It scales down from there in terms of available slots across all Wall Street firms relative to class size. That is not to say you CANNOT get into GS from, say, Darden, it just means they will take maybe 1-3 every year vs. 15 from Booth.
The main difference at the top is the small groups/banks which only recruit at certain schools.In this respect, the hill goes So Raine only does H/W & Columbia. PJT Rx used to only recruit JD/MBAs from H/W but just opened up to Columbia as well (potentially others, I'm unsure, but I know an MBA got an offer, unsure if they took it). Centerview ran a process at CBS this year for the first time after recruiting from H/W last year. Moelis LA almost ALWAYS hires 2 people from CBS. This is a function of smaller intern class sizes. In this respect, my observation has been that it goes: H>W>CBS, with Booth slightly behind in terms of opportunities for mega exclusive groups. Correct me if I'm wrong Boothies.
However, that doesn't mean EBs don't recruit elsewhere - far from it! Guggenheim, Evercore, Moelis hires from the whole T15+Cornell/UCLA, PJT non-Rx recruits from T10+NYU.
Process Basically, at CBS/NYU/Cornell you need to drag your ass all over the city attending coffee chats. These are a huge effort and consume all your time for ~2-3 months. At non-nyc schools, you benefit from the bankers coming to you. This results in less stress, however I do feel that somebody at CBS/NYU/Cornell & potentially Yale/Wharton have the ability to schedule coffee chats at places they might not otherwise be able to get a look from because they are in NYC. So more work, but potentially more upside. YMMV.
Alumni More alumni from Wharton/CBS/Booth/NYU are at any bank you may intern at, and this REALLY helps when it comes to finding mentors and getting an offer. I know that CBS only had 4 or 5 people out of ~100 last year not get an offer, 2 of which checked out of IB and the other few were at groups that decided not to hire more. Everyone (to my knowledge) who did not get an offer but wanted one managed to find an FT offer at an EB or BB. By way of example, however, one EB took 15 of 20 interns, but all 5 CBS interns received an offer. I'm sure Wharton, Booth and NYU are similar.
Happy to comment on any particular bank or school, but that's my lay of the land so far. Feel free to correct me if you feel I'm misconstruing something.
Did Centerview hire from CBS this year?
Thanks for this post. Would you say your H>W>CBS ranking for IB would change if someone wanted only top technology groups like GS TMT, MS TMT, JPM tech?
Would Haas/Stanford enter the mix ahead any of those?
Lol - ya, and I "only" want winning lottery tickets. TMT/Tech is hands down THE most competitive coverage group to recruit for.
Anyway, if a BB bank recruits at your school, you have a shot at any group and can request it. You need to understand that MBA recruiting gives you 2 months of heavy networking to make your case to bankers why you are good fit for their group, they aren't really reviewing resumes at all. In fact, most banks guarantee at least one informational interview for every interested candidate. This is where you win the 1st round interview. The problem is that at the point where you are interviewing for TMT (or any coverage group really), you are gonna be competing against other students at all schools. If you don't get your first choice, sometimes they call and offer you a different group (e.g. a buddy interviewed for GS Ind. and got offered NR). The point I'm trying to make is that recruiting is so much more personal for MBA that if a bank recruits at your school, you have a shot.
I think Stanford is always going to be able to get an interview in IB, but again, once you're at the superday stage, you are competing against other schools. I would guess too that Stanford is close to MS Menlo, so might be a good pipeline there. Moreover I would think that Qatalyst/Liontree may run a process there as well but I really have no idea.
MS generally recruits into a Pool for Summers, with placing once they start full time, except for FIG, RE and (maybe?) Menlo. I always voiced a focus other than those so it never really came up, even at the superday, so honestly not entirely sure. JPM and GS T(MT) are both out of NYC.
I personally don't believe there is a material difference between these schools for TMT outside of maybe alumni in those groups, but that is a pretty crazy reason to choose a school. At the point where you are interviewing for TMT, you have proven already that you are a good fit for TMT, with a background in the area. Do GSB people have a looser standard cuz theyre GSB? Maybe, but I do know you need to be a tip top candidate to place into those groups.
TL;DR it’s pretty easy to get IBD from any M7 and most T15ish schools. The main variable you want to account for is competition vs. focus. Booth/Columbia are going to have more alumni and more students interested in banking but it’s going to be more competitive. GSB and Kellogg won’t have quite as many alumni but all the same banks recruit there so it may not be as competitive / easier to stand out.
The above is only for getting the initial interview and first rounds. Once you’re at a superday you’re competing against other schools and the rest of the stuff doesn’t matter.
Typically, HBS / GSB MBAs that enter into banking are ex-military - and there are quite literally, only a handful each year (virtually non-existing demand). M/B/B consulting on the other hand is significantly more attractive for MBAs (GS at HBS might get a dozen applications... McKinsey will get 400 which is a little less than half the class).
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