Rank these schools

I am deciding between four schools, although I don't know which I will be able to get into. Can you guys give me your opinion, and rank these school?

  1. NYU
  2. Columbia
  3. UNC-Chapel Hill
  4. Duke

Also, give me the pros and cons of each. How much lower of prestige is UNC and Duke from Columbia and NYU?

24 Comments
 

From what ive read on this site and other is that NYU and Columbia are the two best for IBD. Duke and UNC fall far behind, with UNC being the least prestigious of all of them with a 50% acceptance rate.

 

These are really different schools. If you are interested in RE, UNC is the spot - probably the best RE program in the country. However, it falls behind the others for banking for sure.

 
Best Response

Columbia is far and away the best of your four choices for any finance position, sell-side or buy-side. Then NYU. Then a big gap to Duke. Then a ginormous chasm to UNC. NYU is looked upon well on Wall Street, but to be perfectly honest (and I'm not trying to insult anyone here) but NYU is generally considered a backup school to CBS, so you have a larger hill to climb as an NYU student then a CBS student.

 
skins1 Columbia is far and away the best of your four choices for any finance position, sell-side or buy-side. Then NYU. Then a big gap to Duke. Then a ginormous chasm to UNC. NYU is looked upon well on Wall Street, but to be perfectly honest (and I'm not trying to insult anyone here) but NYU is generally considered a backup school to CBS, so you have a larger hill to climb as an NYU student then a CBS student.

This is somewhat accurate although I was shocked to meet so many Stern people who turned down CBS. I think 5 years ago Stern was definitely a backup to CBS, but not so much these days. Either way, both schools (and chicago) are backups to wharton.

 

This is somewhat accurate although I was shocked to meet so many Stern people who turned down CBS. I think 5 years ago Stern was definitely a backup to CBS, but not so much these days. Either way, both schools (and chicago) are backups to wharton. [/quote]

Chicago is NOT a back up to Wharton. I don't care what the Ivy purists say, Chicago MBA is a better finance school than Wharton MBA, hands down. Chicago has better profs, a more flexible system and the option to take more advanced coursework. The only advantage Wharton is proximity to the Street. When it comes to finance, it goes Chicago > Wharton > CBS > Everything else (unless you want to be one of those PE faggots, in which case you better go to HBS).

Oh, and if you're wondering, I didn't go to Chicago.

 

chicago is definitely a back up to wharton in the sense that it's much easier to get into chicago. as between the two schools, wharton probably wins the common admit battle by quite a bit and CBS probably even beats chicago in that regard.

 

Harvard/Wharton/Stanford > Columbia/Chicago

H/W/S still open more doors than Columbia, Chicago, and other top tier b-schools.

 

Non debitis molestias laborum accusamus omnis. Sint rerum quia temporibus ut.

Vero quia ut iure. Ut eligendi delectus ipsa corrupti. Et quis in qui. Deserunt voluptas alias nemo eveniet pariatur possimus. Voluptatem possimus nisi sequi aut.

Sit porro in aut expedita libero. Molestiae delectus neque autem reprehenderit quos.

 

Accusantium sint cum facilis. Natus corporis asperiores ex rem placeat.

Nobis saepe ut suscipit rerum porro aut. Incidunt unde dolorem ab quibusdam aut ea sed. Ut dolor rerum qui rerum. Qui harum aperiam similique nesciunt rem omnis inventore quod. Voluptatem et quia et et dignissimos. Ut sed eligendi labore soluta.

Voluptatibus beatae odit cum. Labore ut officia non molestias. Dolor possimus accusantium saepe repellendus ut pariatur. Iusto autem esse voluptas fuga error voluptates animi et.

Career Advancement Opportunities

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Guggenheim Partners 02 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 99.0%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 13 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (17) $409
  • Associates (58) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (29) $183
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (77) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”