SMU vs Indiana vs Fordham for IB

I'm deciding where to do my finance undergrad to try and break into IB and right now my best options are SMU, Indiana, and Fordham. I also got into UW-Madison and Villanova, but right now my best shots at IB are the previous three. I also got into the business school of every university.

Which one would be the best choice to break into IB, excluding the Investment Banking Workshop at Kelley or the SMU alts program at Cox? I don't want to choose a university only for it to become an absolute non-target if I don't get into the specialized program. I hear both of those are extremely hard to get into, and even if Kelley is still a top 20 business school, from what I've found, without the IBW, you're pretty much cooked for IB.

3 Comments
 

Probably Indiana still all things considered. 

Fordham’s proximity to Wall Street gives you optionality if you can hustle even though the program itself isn’t much to write home about. 


SMU is pointless if you don’t do Alts and even then it’s a Houston only school. Alts pretty much gets you a Houston offer but by and large NYC and west coast is still shuttered off to you. 

 

Velit eos cum et eos et debitis non ut. Beatae ab praesentium laudantium ut.

Et aliquam iure dicta nisi consequatur. Dignissimos ratione rerum non asperiores ex.

Accusamus dolorem aut voluptatem nisi. Hic dignissimos culpa occaecati natus. Hic porro doloribus aut ducimus ex nulla illo consequuntur. Aperiam dicta possimus iste qui cumque aperiam.

Reprehenderit perferendis voluptas et nostrum est non. Soluta officia qui reprehenderit reprehenderit. Corrupti et quasi aperiam necessitatibus nostrum.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (66) $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
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
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...”