Please tell me if I'm being naive?

I've read many archived post on this site about the best schools to attend to have the best opportunities at internships, job offers, etc. It seems at least 4 out of 5 people on this site claim to have come from an Ivy or a target school and they make it seem damn near impossible to get in IB or S&T with a BB or any good company for that fact unless you yourself have attended an Ivy or target school.

Now don't get me wrong I totally understand the advantages of attending a Wharton or HBS, but my point is the same BB firms that recruit at the Top 20 B-schools also visit alot of really good regional schools, so call me naive but one has to believe as long as you have, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citi, and Lehman all making trips to your school and extending offers every year, your shot of getting in is just as good as anybody, am I wrong?

It just seems that these firms wouldn't even bother if they truly had no intentions of hiring kids from non-target regional schools, please tell me if I'm being naive, but I believe as long as the recruiters are coming to see you, your ability to sell yourself is more important than the strength of your alumni.

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Although they may post at regional schools I would be curious to know how many of that schools students actually get jobs at the BB. Companies will often post at a wide range of schools for what boils downt to marketing purposes, and they hire the majority of their incoming class from a subset of that. It is a process that is highly influenced by alumni relations and is therefore a viscious cycle that is tough to break. For every one candidate that is selected for interview at the regional school, I would assume 20+ may be selected from the target Ivey. Do the math, the odds of an offer are not in your favour.

 

Goizueta School of Business at Emory Katz School of Business at University of Pitt McCombs at Texas Austin Calloway at Wake Forest

...this is just a few that I know of personally, I have relationships with people at each of these places that are currently in school or have graduated and went on to BB firms.

Before we continue, let's be clear. I am by no means trying to compare Ivy/Target school opportunities to those from non-targets, I'm simply saying most guys make it seem like you don't have a shot in hell making it in IB with a respectable firm if your not from a target but that's not 100% correct.

 

global co head of bear energy-NYIT graduate. all it does is help you get your first job, after that it's all on you and how talented you are. it puts you at a disadavantaged usually for SA offers and for entry jobs in an analyst class. aside from that it's good stuff.

 
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