Umich vs LACs
What do you guys think about Umichs (LSA) placement into Investment banking or trading vs Top LACs like Amherst, Bowdoin, Williams. I have the options to go to either at around the same cost. Any opinions?
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Williams places very well- probably top 5 in terms of per capita. You’ll work hard though and not have as much fun. Alumni will support u far better at LACs vs Michigan. Amherst to a lesser degree. I’d personally do so Williams > mich=Amherst > bowdoin. Full disclosure I ED’d Williams and eventually ended up getting denied. Currently at semi target
Williams places extremely well at GS, JPM, MS, Barclays, CS, Centerview, Guggenheim, DB, sending multiple kids (sometimes 5 / year) in a class of 550 where most kids aren't interested in finance. Williams representation is lower at other banks
Are you saying 5 per each of those banks? So ~50/500 per year do BB/EB IB at Williams?
No sorry I was unclear. I'm saying that these banks offer multiple Williams kids because they do on-campus recruiting (they take between 2-5 kids). I'd say 20-25 / 550 kids per year do BB (including capital markets) / EB per year at Williams.
Other banks like Evercore or Greenhill or PJT may only take one Williams kid / year or no kids
Thanks for a clarification, that's still a goo number since Williams is a small school and isn't finance focused. How many students there normally try for IB there? Also, are there a good number of kids there that get their internships from personal connections? I ask because Williams draws a more elite upper class crowd; nobody in my town has probably heard of Williams.
I would say half the school is sciences focused. Out of the humanities people, half are interested in law / grad school, etc. Out of the kids interested in business, more are interested in consulting. I'd say only about 1/10th of the class try for IB Yes that's valid. However, on-campus recruiting and the alumni network mitigate this concern. Sometimes, a kid will go to a top bank and no one would know why, but I wouldn't say that's the majority
While I can't speak to the LACs, I can say that UMich is very impressive when it comes to placing in IB across the street. If you're in LSA, I would advise you to take advantage of student orgs in the finance space as they can be tremendously helpful for when you're trying to break in. Be cognizant of the fact that a career in IB won't be shoved down your throat when you're in LSA like it would be at Ross. If you want the full college experience, go to UMich, join those student orgs, and you'll have no trouble getting into IB.
I think for the 3 LACs you've listed they place marginally better than UMich LSA would.
not bowdoin
Bowdoin does fine.. Not great but still not bad.
Please research each of these schools. Amherst places incredibly well... >40% of the class entered finance/consulting. Swarthmores place much less into Wall Street. But all the LAC's have much different cultures than UMich. If you know you want business and want an LAC, go to Amherst or Williams. Do your research though.
Williams places better than Amherst from what I've seen but yes, please don't use this forum to decide. Also consider whether you want large school / small school, location, etc.
I would go to where you think you'll enjoy the most - as you know they will have very different cultures and since you only go to college once, you should pick what fits you best. Because you know you want to do banking already, breaking into banking from a top LAC should not be a problem, and as others have noted alumni are very supportive. That said, it's probably more straightforward to just go to UMich and follow whatever the path is at Ross.
What LennyPenny said is definitely a great point though - breaking in from Swat is very different from breaking in from Amherst.
You should definitely go to either Williams or Amherst. Both are very strong colleges and will help you build a much superior and helpful alumni network both within and beyond finance
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