What college should I chose if I want to go into IB?
Hey everyone,
I’m a high school senior interested in pursuing a career in investment banking. I know none of my options are true target schools, but I’m trying to figure out which one would best set me up for internships, networking, and eventually breaking into IB. I’m aiming for a mid to upper middle-market firm, not necessarily a BB or EB.
Here are my options:
- Abilene Christian University (ACU) – Hands-on business program with a $3M student-managed fund. I’ll be in the honors college, can double major in finance + accounting, and I have a lot of scholarships here, making it very affordable. Downside: not many finance clubs or strong IB pipelines.
- Texas A&M – Probably the closest to a target on my list. Strong resources and the Aggies on Wall Street program (very competitive). Double major would be harder and I wouldn’t make it into the honors college.
- University of Arkansas – Decent business program, but I don’t know much about their IB placement or alumni network.
- University of Dallas – Solid finance/business program from what I’ve seen, but not sure how strong the IB outcomes are.
Given these options, which school do you think would give me the best shot at building a strong foundation for IB (internships, networking, GPA, etc.)? I’m also open to doing a master’s program later on if that’s a better route.
Your cooked
FYI mid market doesn’t mean they take mid backgrounds.
*You're
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f-ng people bro
Texas A&M would be the best
First guy isn't entirely incorrect. You should go to A&M, grind your ass off, and try to transfer to UT or Rice, or at the very least SMU/TCU as long as you're okay staying in the South.
A&M
A&M + Horizons + a personality and easy to end up at any bank in Houston. NYC with a bit more luck and tenacity.
College admissions advisor here (former IB myself) - Texas A&M is by far your best bet here. If you can swing it, it might be worth transferring to SMU (if you want to work in Dallas), UT or Rice after a year. SMU will certainly be easier to gain admission to than the other 2, especially since it’s pretty hard to transfer into McCombs, but A&M gives you a broad enough alumni network if you work hard and are ok with IB in Texas. If your goal is NYC, it needs to be Mccombs or go Out of State, even with the Rice (my alma mater) brand name, the alumni network is largely concentrated in Texas
Work as hard as you can to get involved on campus and get your GPA as close to a 4.0 as possible, then shoot out your transfer appliations. Best to maximze outcomes by transferring to start as a sophomore.
Texas A&M or U Dallas are your best bets
Best option here is Texas A&M, and then transferring out to a better university, say UT or Rice (if you want to be in Texas itself)
Compared to the other schools in the list, Texas A&M is the only target for Houston IB and has the biggest alumni network in NY. Still a complete non target for NY though so keep that in mind if it’s your goal. Really wouldn’t consider the other schools at all here.
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