Hello,
I am in the process of choosing an undergraduate school to attend next year (if I am accepted) and I would like to attend a small liberal college preferably. Which one, between Claremont Mckenna College, Middlebury and Washington & Lee university do you think would guarantee the best placement for investment banking jobs ? From my researches on linkedin, Middlebury has a good placement with many BBs and boutiques and CMC does not so well, especially regarding its reputation (only 15 to 20 analysts in a 340 class). Then I discovered Washington & Lee which, again according to Linkedin, has a crazy placement with between 70 and 80 people who got into the industry per class.
Do you think W&L is underrated ? Which one of these three schools would be the better bet ?
Thank you in advance.
From a geographical perspective, CMC seems like it'd place more into LA than NY. Might be worth keeping in mind.
Middlebury is the strongest of the three, followed by CMC and then W&L in my opinion. With that being said all schools are very similar in some regards but also very different in others.
Middlebury has a traditional East Coast LAC feel. The student body will be diverse, but there will be undertones of a preppy northeastern type of feel. Not a bad thing persay, but you'll probably feel more at home here if you're from the Northeast, maybe somewhat preppy. The Network will help to place well all over the place, but especially on the East Coast
CMC is also a great school, given its location it will have a more laid back California vibe. Kind of like a Middlebury, but with more of a west coast feel as opposed to the east coast feel of Middlebury. CMC has a pretty good emphasis on career services, but will place much stronger to west coast banks, etc.
W&L is another good one, but in my opinion has a pretty strong southern feel to it. Pretty big emphasis on greek life(75% of student body) as opposed to the other too which could be a pro/con depending on who you are and the job placement will be stronger on the east coast and especially into the bigger southern cities.
So really the summary of my comments are:
Thank you for your answer. Even though I agree that Middlebury has the best reputation out of these 3 LACs, I've noticed on Linkedin that for example, W&L has placed about 40 kids in IB FO when Middlebury did the same for only about 20. Even in Wall Street W&L has been more represented than Midd despite its class being smaller. What do you guys think of that ?
W&L has better placement. It has a very, very tight alum network which helps dramatically. The W&L folks I know have also generally been very good performers, which has allowed to keep their position as a "core" school for a lot of banks (both BB and MM...haven't seen the EBs recruit there much). Haven't seen a lot of Middlebury or CMC alums in IB...
Middlebury is generally more prestigious, but they're ultimately within a couple slots of each other. W&L will probably give you a better shot at IB IF it's a "fit" for you culturally. However, as long as you perform well, you should be able to get traction from any of the three schools, and you should choose the one where you think you can be most successful. Good luck!
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