SAIS, SIPA, Fletcher, Georgetown SFS, WWS, Kennedy, etc.

I'm curious, does anybody recognize any of the above schools? How "recognizable" are these schools within banking, and is a degree from one of these schools at all valuable?

[Valuable in terms of landing a position in banking... either NYC or London/HK. In other words, if I go to one of these schools straight out of undergrad, are my prospects at the analyst level in any way affected?]

 

I know Goldman, MS,UBS and Lehman all recruit for Municipal Finance at KSG. I know people from Fletcher that have gone into muni from Fletcher. Iknow all of these schools offer joint 3 year joint MBA programs. SAIS and Fletcher with Tuck, KSG with HBS, Kellogg, Tuck, Sloan, Stanford, etc ad Georgetown with their business school. I think that only one that doesn't offer a joint degree program is WWS. The joint degree is a really popular option you may want to consider.

 

depends on where your undergrad is. if you are already from harvard or one of the top schools for undergrad, then going to these schools for your masters program is not going to add value to your banking application. If you are from a non target, then doing a masters at one of these targets will give you the campus recruiting/networking opportunities, and in that sense, it's worth it.

 

I don't think any of the schools that I listed are targets. It wouldn't make sense for a bank to target an IR school, just as it wouldn't make sense for a bank to target a med or law school.

I ask how recognizable the schools are withing banking because I had one of them on my resume; the guy looked at it, and he's like.. "[School XXX]; what's that?" I'm assuming that there's not much value added..?

 

The banks come to my b school for recruiting events, but we always see people from other grad schools in the same university attend our events (they can do that), and some got offers (as analysts). So being in a non-target program in a target university, is better than being in a non-target program in a non-target university. Example, JFK school or WWS will carry more weight than an IR school in a ABC university.

 

Of the schools I listed, only SIPA, and Kennedy are associated with top bschools (Georgetown has an "okay" one). Also, SAIS, Fletcher, SFS are all associated with non-target undergrad institutions.

 

It just depends on the school you're affiliated with. SIPA, WW, and Kennedy would clearly be the best bets on that front.

Also if you're considering London I'd recommend doing a masters in IR at Oxford or LSE, there's good recruiting at both and banks care more about the name of the university than the particular subject (obviously role-dependent).

 

I went to SAIS and I think it is a great school however it doesn't get you into banking easily. An alum I know said that although she tried to get her bank more interested in recruiting there, the technical skills just were not strong enough.

 

I may be biased as an alum, but SIPA has the best banking profile, followed closely by SAIS (they do have Geithner).

SIPA and CBS are fairly integrated (you can take courses at either school) they have joint happy hours, the school's in NYC (I'm at a loss as to why anyone would live in Medford, MA to attend Fletcher) and SIPA offers an Economics and Finance concentration that blends core MBA courses (i.e., accounting, finance) with an international component.

A bunch of my classmates ended up in finance after SIPA. Caveat emptor: they etiher had previous banking or consulting experience.

 

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