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Any top 15-ish school will do. You'll have no trouble recruiting nationally from any of them.
If you can get that 730 as URM shouldn't have any issues getting in at least a dozen of them, especially w/ your background
For the record I know someone personally who ended up exactly where you want to be and he attended UCLA (and isn't URM).
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I wouldn't go lower than 700 w/ that GPA. You'd still have a decent shot at $$.
He ended up at Moelis
I live in CA and definitely advise a trip here to check things out before pulling the trigger if haven’t already done so.
whats URM?
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Got it. SF kind of blows to be honest with you. I guess some people like it, but it has a lot of issues that make it really tricky to like for lots of others. Definitely didn’t pick up on these as much when just visiting vs when I got there and started thinking about it as the place I’d actually live or began living there.
still think California is cool and was decently into coming out here before getting an offer out here. Maybe it’s just SF.
Very strong minority presence so that might help things on your end
I can’t Stanford either. Never learned how to read.
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Got my MBA from Stanford a few years ago and now work in public / private investing in the Bay Area. DM me.
Not sure why no one mentioned USC. USC is still in the t20 and would land you a great spot in so-cal, guaranteed. Also, don't underestimate the trojan network and their loyalty. In the PE space (if that's an option you want to pursue later on), you'll sometimes find that certain shops only hire USC alumni and vice-versa with Anderson. Good luck!
Del
Best of luck!
If you want to surf every day, you can literally do that in LA banking. Sorry for the bias against my friends up north.
West Coast Best Coast: East Coast schools can get you to the West Coast but it's way harder than going to UCLA/USC/UCB and just showing up to coffee chats all the time. Where you end up is really up to you and how prepared you are as well as your ability to understand your story and communicate your goals.
Timing: If you can get a TMT analyst/associate position right now at a time when banks are cutting people, go for it. Otherwise I would say starting school in the Fall, doing a summer internship next year, and starting full time the year after that could hopefully insulate you from the really bad economic timing for banking right now.
A few words of caution: So, so, so many LMM/MM banking analysts who go to T15 MBA have a "GS TMT / similar prestige or bust" mentality and think of themselves as superior to their classmates. Most of them end up falling short of this prestige level, e.g. closer to a BAML Palo Alto tier firm, still great, just don't limit yourself to thinking so highly of yourself before you've started and seen your competition. Adjust your expectations accordingly. Banks recruiting for MBAs don't really care that you can model already (cue Shania Twain: "That don't impress me much"), they are recruiting people with a broader set of skills.
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