Spread the Love for LACs
Might get MSed for this but. LACs specifically NESCAC are rarely talked about on WSO. GS, MS, JPM all their CEOs went to NESCACs. Strong alumni across the board in EB especially at PJT Evercore and CVP. MBB A/W individually were sending anywhere from 15-20 a year as well from what I’ve heard. Plus Williams is like T5 per capita for IB recruiting. Viking and Tiger ran by Williams alumni. One of the Co-heads of JPM IB went to Amherst and a few private equity shops are ran by them. From what I’ve heard they are really crushing it in the private equity space now. Alums from the north like Stanley Druckenmiller from Bowdoin and Bob Diamond (former CEO of Barclays) from Colby. Sure A/W students get a lot of recruiting especially for EBs. But schools like Middlebury are definitely big players as well! Outside of the ivies, mit/stanford/wharton/stern, definitely recommend to those applying to try at least 1-2 NESCACs. Grad school opportunities are ample as well. Point is, network is growing fast and nescac alums help each other out or they try more or less. To be fair, I’d say the NESCACs really struggle with larger hedge funds in the quantitative space and a bit with VC just because of the intrinsic location for VC.
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Yeah they have the next in line @ GS
Top LACs are underrated. They are great schools to attend. I know some people who don't like the vibes there, and it also feels like high school.
Middlebury is pretty good for IB in particular: tons of senior Goldman banking partners + the COO of Goldman, good amounts of MDs + the CEO of MS as well. Barclays has a ton of mid-levels and junior senior people with Midd also being a target for them. It's much less represented in the buy-side in terms of people at top seats, but then again once you get into banking the onus is on you for buy-side recruiting especially since it's run by headhunters and not by having alum at top spots. Think Midd alums back in the day tended to stay in banking for better or worse when compared to other schools, and the fact most placements are in product groups don't really help too much. Slowly changing with more midd folks seemingly exiting amongst the recent class, but the school and its alum network def lean towards longer-term bankers and the alum split of IB/PE reflects that
Yeah buyside remains heavily ivy dominated still especially with Wharton/Harvard/Columbia/Yale/Dartmouth
Idk how much that changes since HH make those calls
School plays a part but you can still get MF's from Midd depending on group/bank. Ultimately, HH's care primarily about group/bank, and although school matters a school like A/W/M or something like Bowdoin or Tufts isn't gonna be held against you for the most part. Anecdotally speaking, have seen NESCAC kids get good traction with MF's for oncycle for those interested though obviously when it comes to interviews it's up to you. The placement for on-cycle is hurt by most NESCAC kids being less prepared than the ivy leauge kids by virtue of them being less hardo on average. Also anecdotally speaking, have seen a lot of other NESCAC kids (and now even kids from ivies) skip on-cycle completely. Am at a BB though not a EB, so experiences may vary.
Good to keep in mind. I think people have given more attention to PE way more than before just due to the number of firms and recruiting out of undergrad.
Honestly speaking, there's a lot of pros from going to a banking program over PE out of undergrad (larger network, more established training program, and more optionality being the key ones all of which is particularly relevant to LAC kids given our schools have inherently smaller networks vs ivies and we don't the finance education that someone does at a school like Wharton or Stern). I think if you go to a LAC, banking at a BB/EB is 99/100 times the move with the sole expectations being if A) you know if you want to do PE, B) you already have a network that is fairly strong, C) you are already technically as strong as someone from a trad finance school (VERY rarely the case), and D) you get like your ideal PE firm.
Idt people are paying more attention to PE at LAC's compared to top business schools, point blank. The ivies and top business schools attract the hardos who wanted to do IB/PE since high schools and LAC's simply don't on average. Most LAC placements into banking are kids who decided they want to do banking in college either freshman or soph year with most leaning soph year tbh. Just very different vibes and kinds of people it attracts.
Never seen that many LAC grads land truly elite roles out of undergrad. Sure, they might be getting GS, MS, JPM, or BofA, but the top banks and buyside firms? I would be very surprised.
Bro is baiting. PJT each of A/W has close to 10, CVP each school only have 4-5 alums though very difficult to break in to begin with, and A/W/M each have 10+ at Evercore. Recruiting classes are about 2-3 a year at evercore, keeping in mind graduating classes are 500 students.
super technical firms like Qatalyst there may be no presence at all but that’s consistent with almost all top schools.
Also williams has a growing presence at KKR and amherst is strong with bain capital, know a few people that went straight into MF PE from both schools some without IB experience either.
sure the networks are smaller, but you are tweaking if you believe that these schools have no presence with top banks and buy side
First of all, read my comment closely. I said "directly out of undergrad." Sure, they can land it after gaining experience or attending business school.
1. All alums at PJT are in M&A.
2. KKR (0 directly out of undergrad).
3. "Recruiting classes are about 2-3 a year at Evercore, keeping in mind graduating classes are 500 students"—this is just wrong.
4. "Super technical firms like Qatalyst"—exactly my point.
Of course, they have a "great" presence; they are good schools with connected students, so I would hope some kids are at the top.
You need to look at the people and their backgrounds rather than looking at the absolute numbers to determine placement. Anyways half of these alums come from a different time back when rich kids (people who love LACs) were dominating banking and PE.
Bro just called GS, MS, and JPM not top banks... opinion immediately irrelevant. There's a reason they are the big 3 BB's and get MF exits, just phenomenal legacy shops for training and developing analysts. Ik WSO is full of EB simps, but top BB's are just as great of places if not better (greater name recognization and deals across product areas instead of just M&A for example) than EB's.
Del
Yeah Amherst seems to be good for EBs. What about the bigger BB, GS JPM MS Citi BoA?
I went to a top LAC in the midwest. Top 25ish in ranking across LACs. And even I had observed how helpful alumni were.
It's crazy how underrated LACs are. At mine, for eg, there were six to ten folks who wanted IB jobs and we all got them at mid-tier LACs
Meanwhile my friends at "Target" IB unis were struggling
Malacester is great.
great
i go to a nescac and got an ib gig like i planned. it was a value play . ik i wasnt gonna get into top ivys but nescacs are into ppl who are "unique" and more lenient in admissions. its just that nescacs are very isolated and not a fit for many, if you can stomach that i think its a great place to be for IB. you will need to network more and be okay not having the best finance outcome out of college, but great place to start a career from and insane alumni network
I saw on this platform many people say that it’d be easier to get an IB gig here at a NESCAC rather than some ivies due to less competition with brand name.
Not sure because I am not in recruiting, but is there really a difference from going to…idk A/W than maybe a low/mid tier ivy?
i don't go to a/w and tbh i think it was easier for me to get into IB than hearing from my friend who goes to Yale. i think there's more opportunities and gateways into IB at the ivy's, but there is very little interest in the nescacs, or atleast mine. i just had to do a few phone calls and land a superday from alums rather than go through draconian biz frat / investment club sessions lol.
being at a nescac is nice because it gives you a pass of not being as technical and a greater number of people who will respond to your email. still think recruiting at an ivy is better, but if you are driven, you should be fine at either place.
LACs are ass. The girls there are very questionable people. The schools are too small. The guys who do weird things to impress the girls are also very questionable people.
Buddy is on point. I went to a lower tier NESCAC (Colby, Bowdoin, Tufts) and you will NOT have a pleasant experience there if you are a normal human being. The kids there are spoiled, uber-leftists that are out of touch with reality... better off going to a UMich or UTAustin imo.
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