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.
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Forget trying to add value on this forum. Going anon and lurking/comedic comments from now on.
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.
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.