Wisconsin school of business for investment banking?

Is UW school of business in madison any good for BB's in NYC? I know 2 alumns, one at JP Morgan and one at Blackstone, who broke through. How does it do in terms of sending kids to NYC and chicago?

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I grew up right outside the UW and it is a great school (at least if you want to stay in the Midwest). From what people have told me (no personal knowledge of the IB aspect of UW), it is like any other non-target. You have to work a lot harder, but it is very possible. They have an investment banking club that makes networking trips out to NYC and Chicago. A student I talked to said they place a couple of kids on Wall Street every year. On their website, Goldman and Morgan Stanley are both listed as employers of last year's grads, although I have no idea what part of the respective companies. As the alums you know prove, it is possible.

Two things you may not want to hear but I will say anyways: Real estate and partying. Both of those are huge strong points of UW-Madison. Football and basketball games are crazy. Any Badger fan will tell you the football team is ready to make a BCS run this year so that is something ha. I am leaving the state but will always be a Badger fan inside.

Disclaimer: All I share is from second-hand knowledge (except the sports stuff). I don't want to be/seem like one of those guys that gives advice far beyond his level of knowledge. I did send you a PM about a guy that is active in the IB club at Madison and would be able to answer your questions much better than I.

 
cclowI grew up right outside the UW and it is a great school (at least if you want to stay in the Midwest). From what people have told me (no personal knowledge of the IB aspect of UW), it is like any other non-target. You have to work a lot harder, but it is very possible. They have an investment banking club that makes networking trips out to NYC and Chicago. A student I talked to said they place a couple of kids on Wall Street every year. On their website, Goldman and Morgan Stanley are both listed as employers of last year's grads, although I have no idea what part of the respective companies. As the alums you know prove, it is possible.

Two things you may not want to hear but I will say anyways: Real estate and partying. Both of those are huge strong points of UW-Madison. Football and basketball games are crazy. Any Badger fan will tell you the football team is ready to make a BCS run this year so that is something ha. I am leaving the state but will always be a Badger fan inside.

Disclaimer: All I share is from second-hand knowledge (except the sports stuff). I don't want to be/seem like one of those guys that gives advice far beyond his level of knowledge. I did send you a PM about a guy that is active in the IB club at Madison and would be able to answer your questions much better than I.

like cclow, I also have strong ties to the UW and the midwest in general. The UW's been getting hammered in USNEWS rankings (was 32 just a few years ago, now is 45) but I think that is more a function of USNEWS's new rankings methodology than the actual quality of the school.

as for IB- it's a semi target for chicago, a non-target for nyc, kids still make it to nyc though, as evidenced above. personally, i know of a kid who worked for GS NYC and now works for Och-Ziff and a kid who worked for JPM NYC who now works for Fortress. in chicago/minneapolis, you got some guys at the BBs and a lot more guys at smaller banks like Houlihan Lokey, Robert W Baird, and BMO Cap Markets.

also, I'd like to reiterate what cclow said: UW is great for real estate- all of the top real estate acquisition/investment firms like jones lang lasalle and tishman speyer recruit there.

 
cclowI can't help you there...no idea

You guys also mentioned Wisconsin is good for risk management. Is it any good for finance?

 

You can check the US News specialty rankings, although you have to take them with a grain of salt.

2010 UW Ranks:

Real estate: #2 (only behind Wharton) Risk management: #4 Finance: #20

Finance is not their best area, but if you work hard you can turn it into something.

 

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