Chances for Cornell AEM getting BB IBD? Is it a target IB school?

I know I am going to get shot for this but I need a straight answer before I head along to do this.

I 'might' be transferring to Cornell and going into AEM. I am currently at a non-target city school Just wondering what are the chances getting into BB IBD there? Is it a target school? (I know its not HYP) and it's not as prestigious. But do big banks recruit there for IBD specifically or am I better off transferring elsewhere?

 

I go to Cornell and yes, AEM Majors get a lot of placement. They have a good network. BB IBD firms recruit here, as well as S&T. This goes for any school/interview, but some firms are biased in that they'll only give offers to people in certain business frats. Still, network and you should have an edge.

 

Cornell AEM, hotel management, A+S, Engineering are all targets. AEM is a very easy target to get into from, and it's also not as tough as wharton to keep up a strong GPA... tons and tons of kids taken to BBs and also directly to PE firms every year and competition is way less then wharton

with regards to prestige at cornell - clearly it's not HYPS or really close, and dartmouth certainly and maybe columbia have a slight edge... but you're in a category with Penn, Cornell, Brown, Duke, Amherst, etc... you're in a top / high level ivy target type category that will never be held against you anywhere... there are other clearly target schools like UVA, Stern, Michigan, Berkeley, etc. that are a solid level below you in the target hierarchy, but are STILL good schools

 
Best Response
International Pymp:
Cornell AEM, hotel management, A+S, Engineering are all targets. AEM is a very easy target to get into from, and it's also not as tough as wharton to keep up a strong GPA... tons and tons of kids taken to BBs and also directly to PE firms every year and competition is way less then wharton

with regards to prestige at cornell - clearly it's not HYPS or really close, and dartmouth certainly and maybe columbia have a slight edge... but you're in a category with Penn, Cornell, Brown, Duke, Amherst, etc... you're in a top / high level ivy target type category that will never be held against you anywhere... there are other clearly target schools like UVA, Stern, Michigan, Berkeley, etc. that are a solid level below you in the target hierarchy, but are STILL good schools

UVA, Stern, Michigan, Berkeley are NOT a notch below Cornell lol. When I was at BX, UVA was a huge target for the M&A group, whereas Cornell was not (don't know if that's still the case). BX R&R and PE also recruit there, though the latter to a less extent, but I know that the PE group hired out of UVA a couple years back. The school also sends kids to Lazard, GS, MS almost every year.

Stern places heavily into BBs. The school is a huge target for all banks in NY and in Asia. Enough said. Not a strong target for BX though.

Michigan does extremely well in Chicago placements and sends a lot of kids to NY BBs every year. BX R&R recruits there nowadays. Last I heard 7 kids got offers from GS IBD alone, not including GS Securities and Investment Management.

Berkeley a notch below Cornell? West Coast banking scene is DOMINATED by Berkeley. GS TMT, which kids on this site worship over, hires heavily from Berkeley because these kids know Tech and Finance. This school send more guys to GS alone than Cornell sends to GS+MS+JPM in a year. Seriously. GS SF alone hires like 10-15 SAs. Add GS Hong Kong and GS NY to the mix and that number is very impressive. Unlike the misconception on this site, Berkeley is a bigger target school than Stanford. MS, JPM, CS, and BX Menlo all hire heavily out of Berkeley. I would say that this school is probably the third biggest target school in the country, after Wharton and Harvard, due to their dominance in West Coast banking. Stanford doesn't have as big a presence as Berkeley in West Coast. Problem with Berkeley is that there's a lot of politics involved in recruiting as business fraternities is huge at the school. DSP, AKPsi, and BAPsi send a lot kids to BBs and bankers at the BBs pull for the kids in their own fraternities. Same shit happens when it comes to deciding return offers.

Disclaimer: I never attended Berkeley nor am I affiliated with the school in any way.

 
Ex-<span class=keyword_link><a href=//www.wallstreetoasis.com/company/blackstone-group>BX</a></span>:
International Pymp:
Cornell AEM, hotel management, A+S, Engineering are all targets. AEM is a very easy target to get into from, and it's also not as tough as wharton to keep up a strong GPA... tons and tons of kids taken to BBs and also directly to PE firms every year and competition is way less then wharton

with regards to prestige at cornell - clearly it's not HYPS or really close, and dartmouth certainly and maybe columbia have a slight edge... but you're in a category with Penn, Cornell, Brown, Duke, Amherst, etc... you're in a top / high level ivy target type category that will never be held against you anywhere... there are other clearly target schools like UVA, Stern, Michigan, Berkeley, etc. that are a solid level below you in the target hierarchy, but are STILL good schools

UVA, Stern, Michigan, Berkeley are NOT a notch below Cornell lol. When I was at BX, UVA was a huge target for the M&A group, whereas Cornell was not (don't know if that's still the case). BX R&R and PE also recruit there, though the latter to a less extent, but I know that the PE group hired out of UVA a couple years back. The school also sends kids to Lazard, GS, MS almost every year.

Stern places heavily into BBs. The school is a huge target for all banks in NY and in Asia. Enough said. Not a strong target for BX though.

Michigan does extremely well in Chicago placements and sends a lot of kids to NY BBs every year. BX R&R recruits there nowadays. Last I heard 7 kids got offers from GS IBD alone, not including GS Securities and Investment Management.

Berkeley a notch below Cornell? West Coast banking scene is DOMINATED by Berkeley. GS TMT, which kids on this site worship over, hires heavily from Berkeley because these kids know Tech and Finance. This school send more guys to GS alone than Cornell sends to GS+MS+JPM in a year. Seriously. GS SF alone hires like 10-15 SAs. Add GS Hong Kong and GS NY to the mix and that number is very impressive. Unlike the misconception on this site, Berkeley is a bigger target school than Stanford. MS, JPM, CS, and BX Menlo all hire heavily out of Berkeley. I would say that this school is probably the third biggest target school in the country, after Wharton and Harvard, due to their dominance in West Coast banking. Stanford doesn't have as big a presence as Berkeley in West Coast. Problem with Berkeley is that there's a lot of politics involved in recruiting as business fraternities is huge at the school. DSP, AKPsi, and BAPsi send a lot kids to BBs and bankers at the BBs pull for the kids in their own fraternities. Same shit happens when it comes to deciding return offers.

Disclaimer: I never attended Berkeley nor am I affiliated with the school in any way.

Not sure why you are mentioning west coast and mid-west recruiting with Cornell or any of the ivies. All the OCR is almost exclusively for the main NYC office at all those schools unless you specifically make an effort to apply to the other western offices.

But I think the main point that is sometimes overlooked is that top students at ANY ivy, top state school, etc. have a legitimate chance to get interviews and land offers. The pool of students at Berkeley, UVA, etc. probably isn't as strong as the ivies overall but at the top of the totem poll there are absolutely kids who are as qualified and smart as people who even attend HYPS.

 
Ex-<span class=keyword_link><a href=//www.wallstreetoasis.com/company/blackstone-group>BX</a></span>:

West Coast banking scene is DOMINATED by Berkeley.

I would be careful with that statement. I would say in the past, there were more full timers from Cal (also a function of the fact there are just way more students period at Cal) but now in most of the offices, including my own, there are more and more Stanford alum and there is a big recruiting push to hire more Stanford students.

That said, Cornell is great for east coast recruiting. Many of my high school friends went to Cornell, and they have placed very well into BB's, IBD and S&T.

 

OP, to answer your question, go to Cornell. AEM is a good program (or school - I heard it's Dyson now). You'll be in good hands when it comes to IB recruiting.

 
Ex-<span class=keyword_link><a href=//www.wallstreetoasis.com/company/blackstone-group>BX</a></span>:
OP, to answer your question, go to Cornell. AEM is a good program (or school - I heard it's Dyson now). You'll be in good hands when it comes to IB recruiting.
This, pretty much. I go to Cornell (not AEM) and sometimes not being in AEM felt like an advantage (a lot of AEM kids breathe finance and for some interviewers get sick of it, I guess?). My AEM friends did well this year, so network and I would not worry.

Can't speak to AEM's relative quality. And I think they do call themselves Dyson now.

 

I feel like you guys have a very different definition of what target school is, as if a school is only target if it send kids to NYC banks, and all other regions are irrelevant. I don't know if this is the WSO mindset or whatever, but I defined target school as schools that send kids to banks, as opposed to being defined by region.

And idk if Pymp was talking about Asia recruiting or whatnot, but for NYC, I doubt Michigan/Stern is a notch below Cornell. Even for Asia, as Pymp was concerned, I also doubt Cornell send more to Asia banks than Stern/Berkeley.

 

well, would you rather learn how to bake cookies and assemble a knife set? or would you rather learn finance? hotel finance is a joke compared to aem finance, which is why all the aem students try and take finance courses in hotel to fulfill their requirement rather than taking aem finance

 

AEM is essentially a business program whereas Hotel is business but offers more courses geared towards Hotel related fields hence the name Hotel school. If you want to specialize in Finance you probably want to look into AEM, which has a Finance specialization along with a bunch of other specializations. AEM Finance is the hardest class in AEM way way harder than Hotel Finance.

 

it's your choice, but it's not even close if you want to do IB or S&T - go with aem. you'd also have as good a shot at IB if you were econ/math in arts and sciences or an engineering major. I've heard that goldman prefers the econ/math combo to aem actually

 

alright thanks alot guys, seems like AEM is the winner between hotel school. but yeah my original plan was to go for finance/math in my state school. definitely can see how goldman could prefer econ/math since finance is a bit over-rated. and finance/math is a bit too tedious. gotta look into cornell requirements a bit more, but as of now, AEM is my pick :] thanks again

 

Umm, Villanova isn't a non-target.

Cornell is a good school, but I would probably take Nova for free over Cornell. You are 1.5 hours from NYC and 12 minutes from Philadelphia. Plenty of time to network and intern. Focus on getting into the business school and once there, the equity/fixed income society and you should be fine.

 

Worth it. I'm a sophomore at Cornell right now (Econ, not AEM) and recruiting is pretty great here. All BBs come to campus very often for special panel events that are great for networking. Just next week, Goldman is coming for IBD, AM, and Securities Office Hours where you chat one on one with an analyst/associate. Another thing is that quite a few sophomores get BB offers (MO/BO positions with a few superstars FO) which is always helpful for junior year.

 
Gray Fox:

I'm an analyst at a multi-billion dollar L/S equity HF and can name 5-6 people off the top of my head that did AEM that are in similar roles now. I don't know a single person from Villanova. Meaningless from a statistical perspective, but thought I would share an anecdote.

I come across more Cornell AEM guys in HFs than anything except Wharton and (oddly, in my single-data-point experience) Duke.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 

$51k in student loans is nothing, go to Cornell. It'll pay for itself. You'll barely notice the $400-500 a month that gets auto deposited from your checking account. People who go to top tier schools in employable majors don't have the employment/salary issues that lower-tier students have. The college debt issue is affecting mediocre students in silly majors, not people like you.

 

Just to let you know, your EFC stands for "estimated family contribution"

Essentially, the total amount of financial aid that you'll be getting is the cost of attendence - your EFC

Therefore, the higher your EFC the less financial aid you'll get. 35k is a ridiculous EFC, so I would expect your financial aid for Villanova to change to near nothing as well, unless you're going to Villanova for free based on scholarships or some other merit-based aid rather than financial aid.

Hopefully I helped you out with figuring out why you're not getting any financial aid from Cornell.

 

Cornell is $47k for me as a NYS resident. I go to Villanova for $30k per year due to scholarships. My parents will pay $30k, so going to Cornell costs me $17k per year. I didn't get any aid because private schools like Cornell look at EVERYTHING, not just what's on the FAFSA, when making a financial aid decision. My parents are nearing retirement so they have a decent amount of money put away which they are planning to use for that, but Cornell sees it as available for paying tuition.

 

Hi wvu, I know it has been a while since you've posted this, but this is kinda related to me since I'll be applying to transfer to AEM and I will appreciate your response. What classes had you taken in Villanova when you applied? and how about your extracurriculars?

 

I'm in AEM and it seems like there are a lot of kids going into consulting from there either as their first choice or because they didn't like banking. As long as your gpa, resume etc. is solid you won't have any trouble getting into a top consulting firm.

 

Yeah that seems strange, but then again only 166/207 graduates from 2006 responded to that survey. Maybe the people who went to top MCs didn't respond, but there could be a weakness in consulting recruiting as well. I'll have make sure I find this out when I visit campus.

 

AFAIK it's a pretty good program. Lot of Cornell kids at Bear and UBS from what I saw in interviews. About half were AEM and the other half were engineering/math majors. Classes in AEM are easier than other programs at Cornell, but it is still an extremely reputable Ivy business program. If you are an NY resident, it's a great choice. It can't beat Stern's location but Ithaca is gorges (heh heh) and there is a great alumni network.

 

AEM may be easy relative to other Cornell majors... but remember that on the whole, Cornell is also considered the hardest Ivy to graduate from. Cornell is actually recognized for its grade deflation whereas other Ivies (Princeton, Harvard) are known for their grade inflation so in terms of what recruiters will think of your GPA, they won't pay any (special) mind.

Cornell AEM is also very heavily recruited by BBs, top consulting and accounting firms, huge marketing companies, etc. so you won't lack in terms of career connections and options. The network at top BBs (Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Lehman, JP Morgan, etc) is massively extensive so if that's what you're interested in, you'll find a really comfy home here...

Just my two cents :-)

 

Any soft major at cornell is considered BS and easy, but in reality it gets you good jobs. All the big banks come to recruit here and take on a number of interns every summer. Wharton generally has the best banking representation, but after that Cornell has the 2nd most bankers at a number of firms (more than Harvard, Stern, etc). AEM is not particularly easy (although it may be easy compared to premed) and you will learn everything that you need to know for interviews and beyond.

 

I'm in AEM/Stats and despite rumors, it's actually not as easy as I thought it would be b/c there's no curve. I've been very impressed with recruiting. Also, if you're not from the New York area, it's pretty hard to get into (check around and you'll find the answer). In fact, I got into Stern and I turned it down. If you noticed in business week, AEM went up 6 places where Stern went down (not that it really matters).

 

Because AEM is in CALS, which is a contract college w/ NY so it's technically a state college. That doesn't affect the fact that it is ivy nonetheless.

Luckily, I was able to manage to get in, but this is probably because the program is relatively new and unknown (for non-business people). My Guidance Counselor didn't even know about it when I consulted his opinion. Despite this, I suspect that it will still become even more selective as the program matures and more kids learn about it (The B-Week rankings will probably spread popularity).

Well it sounds like AEM is pretty solid anyways, that's good to hear.

 

Amet et labore quo ut. Voluptas numquam mollitia quos qui. Velit earum cumque alias tempora labore provident. Doloremque rerum aut iure ipsam.

 

Eaque harum ipsam ex aut. Mollitia cupiditate fugit velit veritatis. Qui quia aut ut doloremque temporibus.

Nemo eligendi non ipsam. Rerum dolorem accusamus labore et qui. Qui odio velit eius doloremque sed excepturi accusamus. Et et non est totam pariatur omnis.

Aut autem voluptate qui corporis similique corporis ut. Quia sequi ullam provident nostrum aut voluptatem porro. Voluptas numquam molestias iste est.

 

Iste fugiat dolores modi id voluptas repellendus architecto. Optio quos doloremque aperiam dolor aut ad quod. Impedit est non aperiam iusto modi quis.

Commodi sed officia officiis at. Minus perspiciatis sunt consequatur. Veritatis itaque iure omnis qui aut magni.

Placeat sed autem qui magnam. Ipsa aut quis dolor voluptatem officiis. Aut adipisci ab vitae. Doloremque et cum nulla tempore. Quia non molestiae voluptas.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

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

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 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

March 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

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $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

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...”