Washington University St. Louis vs UW-Madison vs Michigan vs Lehigh vs Cornell
I am a junior in high school looking at colleges for investment banking. Right now my top schools are WashU, Wisconsin (in-state), Michigan, Lehigh, and Cornell. I have a 3.98 GPA and am estimated at a 32 on the ACT. Financially, I am in the tough spot of not getting much financial aid, but my parents can't afford a lot either, hence a strong consideration of in-state at Wisconsin. How would these schools look to a bank after graduation? Thanks in advance.
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Well the GPA basically dictates the amount of scholarship you get and the ACT dictates of you actually get in. One opens the door, the other just loves you up or down a spectrum for financial aid. You really can't decide until you even get an ACT score back.
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If you’re cool with Chicago, Wisconsin is a perfectly fine choice assuming you keep your grades up and do the right clubs (I think they have an IB club of some sort).
I’m not saying you will, but I know of top students who were rejected by University of Michigan and had outstanding GPAs and ACT scores very similar to your own.
The point is, the college admissions process is extremely unpredictable, you could get waitlisted at fucking UChicago and rejected from Michigan, I’ve known it to happen. Just don’t let it discourage you.
I am pretty shocked that this advice isn't offered more, but if you want to go into finance and can't get into an HYP etc. etc. level school, APPLY ED TO CORNELL OR STERN.
Talk to anyone who works in finance. Better yet, go on LinkedIn and do some exploring. At every single BB, EB, and MF, those two schools will be in the top 10 (usually top five) most represented schools. Those two schools aren't absurdly hard to get into (I have seen people from Cornell who majored in psych and other random majors at BBs, EBs, and MFs, so don't limit yourself to just the business school) and ED helps tremendously. If you want the full college experience, go Cornell. If you want to be in a city, go Stern. It's such an amazing deal. You get the recruitment opportunities of a top Ivy without needing the perfect grades to get into one.
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I don’t think your recruitment analysis is completely correct. AEM vs non-AEM Cornell aren’t nearly the same as Wharton vs. non-Wharton Penn or Stern and non-Stern NYU. If you look up “Cornell investment banking LinkedIn” and go through a couple pages, you’ll find that there are slightly more AEM kids, but other random majors are very well represented. Look up “NYU investment banking LinkedIn” and/or “penn(or UPenn) investment banking LinkedIn” and every single person will be from Stern or Wharton.
There are loads of kids at BBs from Cornell who majored in industrial labor relations, econ, hotel administration, any and all STEM fields, info sci, etc... If attempting to get into Cornell (especially with a 32 ACT not great by any means) don't go for AEM. People like the Cornell name, a solid gpa, and an interesting and well articulated story about y u have a different/unique major intrigues most people.
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