Is William & Mary a finance school now?

I graduated from W&M a few years ago so will try to add some color (just one perspective). In my opinion the business school (Mason) is pretty strong and the Finance program in particular has a lot of excellent resources, from interesting classes to great professors to well-run student orgs. From an IB / high finance recruiting standpoint, it is a mixed bag. Between 2012-2018 or so, they were kind of hitting it out of the park relative to the school's small size / previously low presence on the Street. There were multiple MS / GS matriculations per year, and even more JPM offers. Smattering of offers across the rest of the bulge bracket as well (pipeline not as strong however) and people also went to MMs like HL, Harris Williams, BB&T, Stephen's, etc. There were also a couple of kids who got CVP over the years and I think W&M kids still land interviews there once in a blue moon on the back of goodwill from previous analysts or exceptional networking. Would say that HF / PE undergrad recruiting was essentially zero, however (compared to some schools which get looks from the likes of BX, Sculptor, P72, etc.).

The counterpoint to the above, as you likely have already inferred, as that most of these opps have been and continued to be obtained largely through personal networking chops, and networking chops alone. I don't think any of the BBs recruit actively on-campus at W&M (JPM used to come down but don't even think that's a thing anymore) and even MM on-campus presence is muted (BB&T and HL might make an appearance or two...someone definitely correct me if that's changed). If you're a prospect at W&M you're likely relying on upperclassmen and LinkedIn to help you figure out which alumni at which banks to reach out to, and try to worm your way into processes from there. It's not remotely comparable to McIntire's on-campus recruiting scene if you ask me, especially given UVA is usually landing multiple MS/GS/JPM SA offers every year, and also consistently sending one or two kids to most if not all of the EBs per year (whereas W&M, as I mentioned, really only has / had real traction with CVP, and that too on a limited basis). And to be honest this makes sense - even though W&M and UVA are academically comparable, most banks probably wouldn't feel inclined to go through all of the motions of on-campus recruiting for a school so much smaller than its sister with comparable talent (W&M class size is like ~1,500 on average, UVA is double that I'm pretty sure).

All that being said, I think the opportunities are there for those who are willing to seek them out and have the interpersonal skills to measure up to the task of networking. It's one of the few 'non-target' / 'semi-targets' where the school's branding (by virtue of its age and commensurate perceived prestige) and the engaged alumni network can get you a decent amount of looks. Most of the kids who matriculated into banking roles have done very very well for themselves (high hit rate on buyside exits, more and more M7 MBA admits). Also, if you enjoy the small to mid-sized school vibe, there's something to be said about being a 'big fish' in the relatively 'small pond' of Mason...lots of opportunities to differentiate yourself and position for SA recruiting.

When I was there, the SA recruiting cycles were still 'normal' (i.e., the interview grind didn't start til ~October of junior year), so I don't know with any certainty how the school has adapted to timelines that seem to have moved up across the Street. It also seems like, at least from what I've seen with my limited finger on the pulse of the school, that the BB recruiting pipeline has been a little lackluster for the school the last couple years (though could just be an anomaly / function of the times / my own lack of optics given I'm not tracking recruiting outcomes as an alum). All in all, don't know if I would say it's a 'finance school' but it's certainly a much different (in a good way) environment than it was like a decade ago before some of their finance orgs really started to come into their own