Tier?
What exactly is a tier? I've seen this being used in various discussions, so I get the idea, but what is it exactly in terms of universities?
What exactly is a tier? I've seen this being used in various discussions, so I get the idea, but what is it exactly in terms of universities?
Career Resources
Career Advancement Opportunities
October 2026 Investment Banking
Overall Employee Satisfaction
October 2026 Investment Banking
Professional Growth Opportunities
October 2026 Investment Banking
Total Avg Compensation
October 2026 Investment Banking
“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”
Leaderboard
| 1 | 99.2 | |
| 2 | 99.0 | |
| 3 | 99.0 | |
| 4 | 99.0 | |
| 5 | 98.9 | |
| 6 | 98.9 | |
| 7 | 98.9 | |
| 8 | 98.9 | |
| 9 | 98.9 | |
| 10 | 98.8 |
“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
Everyone has different definitions of top tier and bottom tier, and it will matter what you're recruiting for. Depending on context, Top Tier can mean the following: H/S, H/S/W, M7, Top 10, Top 15
At its broadest term, Top Tier will mean "UCLA or better." But, someone interviewing for PE/HF probably only considers M7 to be top tier.
The top schools are frequently put in the following tiers:
A+++ Harvard/Stanford A++ Wharton A+ Booth/Kellogg/MIT/Columbia (Some people consider Booth on Wharton level, some people put Columbia a notch lower. The term Top 5 is thrown around sometimes- its the M7 schools minus Columbia). A Tuck/Stern/Haas A- Duke/Ross/Cornell/Yale/UVA A-- UCLA
After that, there's "top 20" schools like Emory, Kelley, Foster, Carnegie Mellon, etc. These are school that don't really have top tier IB or consulting recruiting, but do have high starting salaries in specific areas(e.g. oil and gas in texas, Corp 500 in pacific northwest) and very high employment rates (Emory's employment rate and internship rate is highest of any school).
There are certainly exceptions, but in general people are indifferent within tiers (usually will focus on career goals and culture), but heavily favor a higher tier. Major exceptions: 1) If people want to work in tech/west coast/entertainment, the might go down a tier to go to west coast school 2) Tuck frequently competes with the tier above it 3) Yale gets a lot of people from the tier above it, due to its high undergrad rankings.
It's just a way to bucket universities into different groups. For example there's no real difference between a H or S so people just bucket them into tier 1.
Voluptatum et occaecati et laboriosam excepturi rerum est. Non deleniti repellendus adipisci. Natus sed repellendus ut magni est et ad. Non enim molestiae ab est ipsa aut. Numquam quia quod qui incidunt.
Expedita et velit deserunt quae iusto voluptatem minima. Consequuntur culpa voluptate maxime architecto quod. Enim sit aut nemo.
Autem consectetur consequuntur sed excepturi autem. Reiciendis consequuntur temporibus aut atque. Praesentium enim tempora dolorum iure excepturi impedit veritatis id. Aut tenetur iure odio quo tenetur. Perspiciatis voluptate consequatur necessitatibus nobis exercitationem. Minus omnis dolorem consequatur quo deleniti hic explicabo omnis.
Ea aut quia laboriosam eum at esse. Dolor deserunt doloremque expedita sapiente numquam. Occaecati ea aliquam culpa. Debitis consectetur dolorem dignissimos quo. Sunt alias ut harum quam temporibus aliquam. Vel quisquam inventore quos.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...