Which undergrad universities are considered prestigious?

Before everyone starts getting pissed off, I'm just curious as to which undergrads are actually viewed as prestigious within the industry (and amongst elites in general).

Of course HYPSMW is guaranteed prestigious at the highest level. Based on my own experiences, it seems like a school like Ross, Stern, or Georgetown (which are highly selective, academically strong, have strong placements) wouldn't be really an impressive or prestigious name to people who are around a lot of HYPSMW grads. 

Do you think non HYPSMW targets are prestigious/impressive? 

In particular, what do you think about UChicago and Northwestern? How far does each of these two names go in terms of prestige and respect? I've got into both and it seems UChic might be the stronger finance school (especially with the Econ program and Booth being combined in the new degree), but I'm afraid the UChic name isn't as well known/respected/perceived. 


 

those are all objectively very prestigious schools, definitely better than anything else 

 
Most Helpful

As someone who spearheads recruiting for my group and sees a ton of resumes:

W

Rest of the Ivies (I generally don't see that much of a difference between a Cornell vs. Princeton kid), MIT, Northwestern, Chicago, Stanford, Duke

Vanderbilt, Berkeley, Notre Dame, Georgetown

Michigan, Stern, USC, UVA, UNC, etc

After that, I don't really consider the schools to be that impressive / eye-catching.

 

Meh, I don't see those resumes that often but I'd lump them like this:

W

Rest of the Ivies (I generally don't see that much of a difference between a Cornell vs. Princeton kid), MIT, Northwestern, Chicago, Stanford, Duke

Vanderbilt, Berkeley, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Williams

Top NESCACs, Rice, WashU, Michigan, Stern, USC, UVA, UNC, etc

 

I feel like Emory definitely belongs in this generally. Idk about your group specifically but it’s definitely strong in recruiting and a target for most EBs. Fits very comfortably in the last group. Also Vanderbilt is definitely in the tier below for general recruiting. 

 

As someone who reviews resumes for MM IB

1. W

2. HY

3. PSM/Oxbridge/Caltech

4. UChicago/UPenn/Columbia

5. Rest of Ivies ex. Brown/Cornell + Georgetown/Duke/Ivy-tiers

6.. Stern/LSE + top APAC (Tsinghua, Peking, SNU, HKU) + Brown/Cornell

7. Top state flagships (UMich, Berkeley) + Other top privates/publics (Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, CMU, UT Austin, UNC, USC, BU, BC) + Canadian/UK/European targets (UCL, Imperial, Warwick, Bocconi, HEC, Queens, Ivey)

8. Names I recognize in the US/EU

9. Names I don't recognize in the US/EU

10. Third world names

Not necessarily based on rankings/prestige but mostly on the quality of kids coming out of those schools who are interested/dedicated to finance (Stern hardo will probably make a better intern than a Berkeley STEM kid even if Berkeley is marginally more prestigious for instance)

 

Classics, Geography, most humanities course are a joke to get into. Anything STEM + E&M at Oxbridge is top tier, and PPE is actually decently easy to get into vs those (for Oxford standards of course). The preftige just comes from all the UK Prime Ministers that did this course. As you can judge by yourself, not sure they were any good at being public servants.

 

I feel like Emory definitely belongs in this generally. Idk about your group specifically but it’s definitely strong in recruiting and a target for most EBs. It’s better than a few tier 7s mentioned 
 

Also if you’re including foreign schools like Peking then IIT(Indian institute of technology) belongs there. I’ve seen so many MDs from there across all top banks. In Silicon Valley it’s seen on the MIT/Stanford/cal tech tier. IIT probably single handedly produces the most Silicon Valley tech ceos and foreign startup founders 

 

Architecto sint dolorem molestias laborum facere. Non non eveniet dolore harum voluptatem tempore. Et explicabo culpa in cum iusto quam consequuntur eos. Aliquam voluptas delectus quia tempore corrupti rerum. Corporis et adipisci quibusdam accusantium nisi quo pariatur voluptatibus.

Explicabo et eius officia ab. Qui minima eaque est non ratione et distinctio repudiandae. Et nihil ut aut voluptas. Ea numquam architecto et. Id fuga sequi ea. Vitae impedit et voluptatem quia nisi qui perspiciatis. Pariatur aliquam quis dolores voluptatem corrupti.

Nemo corrupti illo quisquam. Maxime ut reiciendis libero rem. Natus autem in et beatae consectetur. Iste natus et eaque quo.

Nostrum optio magnam optio nostrum. Ducimus praesentium deleniti sit doloremque. Non id nihil libero laborum nobis error quas. Et veritatis alias corporis vitae.

Career Advancement Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. New 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (87) $260
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (205) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (146) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
9
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”