Help me choose a LAC with a career in finance in mind
Hello! I am a high school junior looking at competetive LACs to apply to next year. I am interested in business and finance, and would like to go to a college that could give me the right opportunities to get internships and jobs at top firms (IB/MBB consulting). Some of the schools that I am interested in are: Middlebury, Hamilton, Williams, W&L, Colgate, Bowdoin, Amherst, Trinity, Conn College, etc. I know that Williams and Amherst place the best, but are much harder to get into. Through my family, I have quite a few connections spread out in BBs and MBB, but they are not super strong. Would these connections help me even if I went to some of the weaker schools on my list? Which of these colleges would you recommend the most? Thanks! Any help is greatly appreciated
P.S. I know it is early for me to be thinking about this, but finance is something that I am genuinly interested in, and I really like all of the colleges, regardless of their ties to Wall Street.
None of the schools you mentioned are actual targets.. though schools like Amherst and Williams are indeed great schools, I think you are overestimating their cachet on the street. Your energy would be better spent applying to schools like Wharton, Ross and Stern if your end goal is finance. Once you enter college, you’ll quickly realize that “quality of education” is irrelevant and that your school is just a branding tool.
thanks for your response! I know that schools like Wharton and Stern are better for breaking in, but I massively prefer the feel of a more rural LAC. I have read elsewhere that I all of these schools have decent placement, especially with family connections. I was wondering whether there is a significant difference between schools like Williams and schools a bit lower ranked (like Hamilton and W&L).
Personally, I have only met one person each from Amherst and Williams in finance (compared to 20+ from Penn). None from the other schools. With that being said, actually deciding on a school will probably be easier once you get your college acceptances. Just go with the best school
Do you think that school size accounts for that difference? Since each of these schools have only ~ 100 econ majors, and probably only a few dozen students each year who want to work on the street, it makes sense that they would be less represented than the 2500 Wharton students, most of whom are interested.
You are not wrong. At the same time, a large school would respectively provide a large alumni base and network. Really up to you. A smaller, and presumably tighter knit, alumni network could be hit or miss and you are placing a great deal of trust on the sparse network of LAC alumni going to bat for you as one of the other posts surmised. The consequence is that you have fewer alumni to reach out to at fewer employers and will have to hope that they are responsive. Nothing that grit and hard work cannot overcome but just something to keep in mind. Best of luck!
as someone who went to a LAC, go to the one that you enjoy the most. I went to a pretty academically good LAC (not Williams or Amherst) and was able to break in. going to a LAC doesn’t stop you from breaking in as long as you get great grades and are willing to do some extra studying. having said that some LAC have weird cultures so make sure you enjoy the school you’re at
I have met tons of awesome guys from Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, and Pomona through prior internships and people in my network working FT.
Alumni bat hard and you are in a much smaller pond. Very well respected and they all have plenty of pipelines to the street that you can utilize if you are proactive from day one. Obviously pound-for-pound the traditional targets are gonna place better/receive more recruiting, but you will be unique in your own way- which is attractive to banks and the reason why they still recruit a good amountat LAC's.
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