List of Sleeper Targets for NYC

People keep thinking that IB is Ivy/top business program or bust. Would you guys consider these schools as sleeper targets:

Kelly - for sure if you're in the IBW Colgate - OCR interviews for almost all interested in IB (10-30 people) NESCAC's Top 4 Liberal Arts - Claremont, Williams, Amhrest, Wellesley Villanova - not really a sleeper school BC - great placement Fordham - in my opinion, it's a semi target, but if you keep your grades up, the location will make it a target

113 Comments
 

You'd also be surprised how many LinkedIN profiles I see with Syracuse listed on them. I'm not sure I'd call it a "target" school but there's a lot to be said for schools like Syracuse which aren't necessarily targets but are geographically close enough to NYC that you can hop into town for a day to meet people.

 
"Attack_Chihuaha"

You'd also be surprised how many LinkedIN profiles I see with Syracuse listed on them. I'm not sure I'd call it a "target" school but there's a lot to be said for schools like Syracuse which aren't necessarily targets but are geographically close enough to NYC that you can hop into town for a day to meet people.

Honestly, I'd consider the student profile at Syracuse to be more relevant than the geographical location - full of rich kids who have connections.

MM IB -> Corporate Development -> Strategic Finance
 

For Fordham, when you say grades up, how high are we talking about?

Does Fordam legit have students working in FO roles on the Street.

Ignore if answer is obvious. Thanks

 
Best Response

YES Fordham Legit 100% sends kids to FO roles on the street. and GPA wise were talking 3.7+. I know plenty of upper classmen who will be doing BB IBD, S&T, no so much ER and AM but you see some here and there. A lot of us do boutique IBD internships during the year. OCR isn't phenomenal, but its good for underclassmen looking to get their foot in the door of any kind of finance role. Super easy to go to networking events and meet with senior people at banks during the day and get back to class on time. PM if you have more Q's about Fordham.

 

Syracuse grads are all over the street primarily because it's a decent, fun school that not very smart, well off kids can get into.

Baruch, Rutgers, Fordham, UConn, the NE liberal arts schools, all do well on the street. PSU honors college as well.

 

Not sure about the West Coast / East Coast comparison, but Baruch Alumni here and placement has been fairly good for the past few years if you are a grinder. (Majority of the Financial Leadership Program (FLP) Alumni have placed FO roles)

Edit - Still wouldn't consider my school a target though.. you really have to grind/network/intern throughout college to make it.. OCR is limited to only a few BB's (JPM/BAML/MS/CS)

 

For black people above a 3.0 GPA...Howard University and Morehouse College. Think about for a bank doing diversity recruiting, wherelse could you go to a place with thousands of black educated males interested in business. My friends told me that its a cake walk with OCR at those schools.

We're not lawyers. We're investment bankers. We didn't go to Harvard. We Went to Wharton!
 

Very true, maybe not a cake walk, but Howard very strong OCR from BB's looking for black kids. I know plenty of Howard kids who have placed really well.

 
"BillBelichick37"

I've always wondered, do you actually have to be black to go to school there?

No, there was a white valedictorian at Morehouse that got some press a few years back. Most of the non-POC that are there are recruited athletes, but I did know one white guy who went to one of these schools. He grew up in a predominantly black environment. And yes, if anyone's wondering, he did use their diversity recruiting.

MM IB -> Corporate Development -> Strategic Finance
 

Just under a semi target. If youre near the top of your class then you will have the same opportunities as semi-target kids. the difference i'd say is that you don't have as great of a margin for error- you might only get a shot or two to capitalize on your opportunity whereas at a semi-target youll have a better plan B if shit hits the fan. Youll have to work a little harder to differentiate yourself but it definitely won't close a lot of doors if you find yourself at either of those institutions.

Can't speak on behalf of Babson but at Bentley they really want you to pursue accounting due to their presence within the big 4. Professors try to channel everyone to accounting by making banking sound like an intimidating industry. It also attracts a wealthy student base which is always helpful because you can establish connections with your friends' parents.

 

Tell him to not come back until he has experience on his resume.

"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw
 

In the UK you can't go wrong with Oxford and Cambridge. After that UCL ranks probably third, and maybe second for STEM. Then we've got Imperial, which is also a great university and which is without doubt the top school for engineering. LSE still has its reputation but their academics are fading, but they're still competitive for Econ and place well in the industry, mainly driven by the alumni network.

Reputation wise I'm not entirely sure for the US, but he might just start out in London. In London the true targets are Oxbridge, LSE and UCL. Imperial a little bit less so. After that you probably get to Durham, St Andrews, Warwick and the like. This is confirmed by the recruiting intake in the city, where you almost exclusively see the top 4 unis at GS/JPM/MS. They even have their own recruitment channels here. Applications from other unis gets lumped in the 'Other' pile.

 

Ok time to fix some common errors on the thread I started. First of all, everyone who is dissing on the London university, don't. American BB and EB has many analysts from the Core 5. Maybe the one you are planning to attend is lower because LSE is obviously the most recruited one. However, it's like comparing Haravrd to Brown. Both are great schools, some people are just flat out snobs by saying that Brown is not Ivy League caliber

Second of all, Villanova is a sleeper school. It's always considered as a semi target even though its placement is amazing.

Third of all, Baruch in my opinion is a semi target not a target. And Rutgers is a non target. I personally respect Baruchs quality of education at a small price for NY Residents, but it's nothing compared to Fordham or Syracuse or even PSU.

Third of all, stop posting west coast nonsense. No one wants to hear about schools from which you can make your way to NYC. I'm talking about sleeper schools that are targeted specifically for NYC. Sure, if we include these schools where we can make it to NYC we can include UGA, Chapel Hill, and the West Coast schools, but they don't recruit directly to NYC as much as the schools we've been talking about. They are clustered specifically towards Charlotte Texas Atlanta and West Coast Banking.

Last advice, don't go to Bentley or honestly, even Babson isn't a target. Babson has OCR from BNP Paribas and has a student run fund + great I Banks in Boston to intern at. Bentley is just ultra accounting. For Big 4 accounting experience, it's the best one in the country. Yes the best one. But definitely not the best option when compared to Babson for IB.

Please don't go to Holy Cross. Sure it's private, good religious education, but it's placement is absolutely bad.

ALSO FOR THE OP CONSIDERING NOVA MSF GO THERE! It's great if you haven't gotten into Ross stern the Ivy leagues or southern Ivies (duke, Vanderbilt, Emory)

 
"MoneyisHappiness"Sure, if we include these schools where we can make it to NYC we can include UGA, Chapel Hill, and the West Coast schools, but they don't recruit directly to NYC as much as the schools we've been talking about.

UNC gets plenty of NYC recruiting, not sure why you would lump them in with UGA and West Coast schools. It's true that they get more CLT spots but if you want New York at UNC there are plenty of opportunities.

MM IB -> Corporate Development -> Strategic Finance
 

There is No shot in hell Baruch is over Fordham. They are comparable but in terms of placement, career guidance, and OCR id absolutely take Fordham over Baruch. Fordham as has a better and more in depth alumni base, better networking events, etc. Baruch is definitely cheaper but if the consensus was Baruch > Fordham literally everyone would be going there instead.

 

Funny you say this because I personally know about 8 people at Fordham Gabelli who, having went through recruitment, maintain 3.7 and up (one even a 3.9), and are graduating Spring '18, have networked, contacted alumni, etc, and have still come out with absolutely nothing for this summer prior to their graduation. So, in terms of placement, career guidance, and OCR.. lol.

And don't get me started on their networking events – I snuck into one a few months ago which was simply a "parent panel" of successful parents of students in finance where a kid's mom who was a MD at UBS answered 3 questions and left. Fordham may have a higher cut off due to that "elitism" criteria but unless you're the top 1% of students, doesn't look like the school helps you out too much. And even then, my friend who is one of the top students of her year has received barely any assistance from the school and is in the same boat as above.

Baruch 100% has a much larger and more established alumni network than Fordham. More people went to Baruch and have come out on the street in comparison to Fordham LC/RH.

Only reason there's a "disparity" is b/c of Fordham's wanna-be elitism.

EBITDA rules everything around me
 

If you're really just looking for Semi-targets near "NYC", then I would consider Fordham, Rutgers, Villanova, BC (if you can get in, 100% target, even their Econ program is well regarded if your not in Carroll). If were talking about Semi T schools that will place "in" NYC then that is a very extensive list because there are a good amount.

 

Good post, I'm sure they are good schools and not only because they are located in NYC. Just wished they were a tad bit higher in overall US rankings, but then again who cares about ranking if they get you a decent role, right?

 

Boston College is an interesting cateogory. Right below "target" school, but above "semi target." Carroll is great. Every firm and bank recruits there and sends kids to MS M&A and GS TMT. I'd personally call it a target school, but some ivy league elitists might personally be offended by my statement.

We're not lawyers. We're investment bankers. We didn't go to Harvard. We Went to Wharton!
 

Rutgers is not a sleeper target. Yes, they place well in the fact that they get a handful of kids into BBs every year, which is impressive for a middling state school. However, those kids are THE BEST of the the best, who worked 10x harder than anyone at an actual semi-target (like BC) would. It just happens to be that it attracts a lot of driven people who didn't have the opportunity to go to a target school for college (but in other circumstances would have), and is close enough to NYC for prime networking.

 

Middlebury is second to Harvard this year for representation at GS, and is usually amongst the most represented. They also have a BUNCH of senior people at the firm (John Waldron, head of IBD, as well as a number of other respected MDs/partners). According to Linkedin they also have more alums in IB than any of the LACs you listed.

Fordham definitely has representation on wall street.

Don't know if I would call it a sleeper, but UMich/Ross does very well.

BC does well, as does BU surprisingly enough.

 
"Ed Wuncler III"

Middlebury is second to Harvard this year for representation at GS, and is usually amongst the most represented. They also have a BUNCH of senior people at the firm (John Waldron, head of IBD, as well as a number of other respected MDs/partners). According to Linkedin they also have more alums in IB than any of the LACs you listed.

Fordham definitely has representation on wall street.

Don't know if I would call it a sleeper, but UMich/Ross does very well.

BC does well, as does BU surprisingly enough.

Middkids place best in GS Financing (capital markets). They have a few key MDs in the financing groups. There are not nearly as many people in Classic IBD.

 

I don't know if you'd consider the following "sleeper" target schools, but beneath sent quite a few kids to my analyst class years ago: - Vanderbilt - USC - UT Austin - Wake Forest

Ace all your PE interview questions with the WSO Private Equity Prep Pack: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/guide/private-equity-interview-prep-questions
 

Exactly that. Not a target, but a good number of kids do land nice gigs. All about networking. Citi has started recruiting from UConn over the last 2-3 years. Just remember that if you can land an interview then the playing field is pretty much even, however going above and beyond to prove you know your stuff will go a long way, especially if you are coming from a non-target

 

I'd like to hear more on this. HS senior deciding between Villanova, Fordham, and Richmond. Obviously Nova and FU probably place better in terms of sheer numbers, but that's no doubt because they have about 5,000 more UG kids than Richmond. Given its smaller size (3,000ish), can anyone speak to UR's placement in nyc, or IBD specifically?

Still grappling with the fact that there are more things to consider about college than straight statistics like this, but I'd love to hear. After visiting each of those 3, they all seemed wonderful and it's hard to say that I liked any one of them more so than the others.

 

MoneyisHappiness what is with your obsession about ranking these third and fourth tier supposedly "sleeper target" schools, when you are still in high school? I'm sorry you didn't work hard enough in the last three years to make it to a target school, but your post history is just absurd.

 

WhartonOrBust this fag's username is just as bad as his chances into upenn. BTW, your a stuck up bitch. I'm trying to help out other high school students who might want to search for target schools.

Just read his posts everyone

 

Target Schools Princeton, Harvard, Wharton Yale, MIT, Duke, Stanford, UChicago

Semi-Target Schools Columbia, UPenn (econ), Dartmouth Cornell, Brown, Ross, Georgetown Northwestern, UVA (McIntire), Vanderbilt Notre Dame, Stern, Boston College, Indiana (Kelly)

Non-Target Schools All the rest

Probably missing some schools here and there, also didn't include west coast schools.

 
"Cosimo de' Medici"

Target Schools
Princeton, Harvard, Wharton
Yale, MIT, Duke, Stanford, UChicago

Semi-Target Schools
Columbia, UPenn (econ), Dartmouth
Cornell, Brown, Ross, Georgetown
Northwestern, UVA (McIntire), Vanderbilt
Notre Dame, Stern, Boston College, Indiana (Kelly)

Non-Target Schools
All the rest

Probably missing some schools here and there, also didn't include west coast schools.

Semi Targets: Wash U, UW Madison, Berkeley, USC, UCLA, UT Austin, Amherst, and generally, much of the Big Ten, ACC, and SEC. (Yes, the rest of the Pac 8 deserves to be on that list, and would be if they were 2-3 hours away, but give the poor associate a break- it's a frigging transcontinental flight and a 3 hour time change. Calm down, you guys have Wells Fargo, WorldQuant, BlackRock SF, PIMCO, and the entire tech sector.)
 

I feel like this thread accomplished a lot. Hope this helps future high school grads. Ignore couple of discrepancies between a couple of the posters, but I feel like a lot of good a schools were listed on here. DEFINITELY IGNORE A HOLES LIKE @WhartonOrBust

 

For NYC , how would people here rate the regions middle tier schools: St. John's, Seton Hall, Hofstra, Buffalo, UMass, Temple, Providence.....

Do they have a strong presence on Wall St? In IB or what other fields? I know St. Johns has a strong corp law presence in the City and that it punches a bit above its weight in Wall st presence simply due to location. The others I know nothing about

 

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