Undergrad USC Marshall and Ross
I'm interested in marshall and ross for undergrad finance and feel like I have decent chances in being accepted. Sadly due to some poor grades in freshman year and lack of effort in being involved, I can't get into wharton or any of the more selective schools, but I learned my lesson. I'm interested in getting a job in investment banking and eventually private equity. I'm also interested in working in the west coast La/sf/palo alto. Which would be the better choice and are both good choices for getting jobs in the field?
Welcome to the club haha. I severely fucked up my freshman year of high school, and am currently an incoming freshman at a non target. I take it you're a rising senior? If so, what's your cumulative GPA? USC is extremely selective (18%) for undergrad. If you fucked up throughly during freshman year like I did (ended the year with a 2.6 cumulative) you have pretty slim chances of getting in. That being said, if you continue to apply yourself in college and are willing to transfer USC has a solid transfer acceptance rate of 27%. I will be applying as a transfer this year. To answer your question, yes, USC is a west coast target and has OCR from all the BB's. Are you from the Bay? If so PM me, I may know you haha.
I think my cumulative is around 3.73 or something should go up a little due to first semster senior year. And yeah I'm from the bay lol. Always like the idea of staying in cali!
You're scores (assuming GPA is UW) are on par for USC. It's a good school with solid placement, and you should (no guarantees) be able to get in. You should also consider NYU if your goal is to obtain a position in finance. It is rather far away from the Bay, but you can always lateral to SF in the future. As for Wharton, your scores are subpar. The average GPA of an accepted applicant is a 3.94 and the average ACT is 32. That being said, your extracurriculars seem to be a source of strength and you can always exaggerate a little in your supplementals. Good luck.
Apply to both and see where you get in - the admissions process is a total crapshoot tbh. Essays, SAT's and your EC's play a huge role and if you show a strong upward trend there is a chance you may get accepted to some selective schools.
Btw, I was accepted to USC Marshall and rejected from UMich LSA.
@354231 - Good luck transferring to USC haha; if you get in maybe I'll see you around.
hmm, do you think i should just go for it and then apply wharton ed then? Tbh idk if i even have a minisule chance. 3.7 gpa, 33 act (could go up), and just some internships at tech companies and work with stanford professor. Although, I do have my own buisness of selling pc's to corporate companies and made some good money, but I doubt that would make up for like all the other issues.
Is your GPA weighted or unweighted? If it's unweighted I think you have a decent chance at some of the non ivy targets as long as you spin your story well and write some solid essays. Also don't listen to the kids on CC - getting into the top 30 schools isn't as hard as they make it out to be.
Regarding Wharton ED, it really depends. If you have a strong desire to attend another school where applying early decision might make the difference then do that. Otherwise, go ahead and give Wharton ED a shot.
Btw, a 33 ACT is a pretty solid score.
Thanks dude, hopefully so.
USC and Michigan = good for non BB I-Banking? (Originally Posted: 07/24/2007)
Hi,
I was wondering if a person has a chance of doing I-banking from USC or Michigan? I'm not necessarily looking at just the Bulge Bracket, so is it possible to get a job at a non-bulge bracket at one of these schools?
Also, for people who don't get into the bulge bracket of banks, do they still make decent money, or is I-banking just known for high salaries in the bulge bracket sector? I'm looking to make at least 100k after bonuses after around 3 years of working, and then 150-200k after bonuses after 10 years, so is that still possible if one doesn't go to a bulge bracket bank, or should I look at another career if I want to do that?
Looking for a career soley to match your future hopes of income is the sure path to failure.
But yes, there are people at middle market and boutique firms that live quite comfortably.
In any case, it helps to actually be good at what you do.
Michigan is a top notch Business school...most BB stop there and if you don't get into those, u can also apply to boutiques.
not sure about USC
All the BB firms recruit at Michigan for IB. Lazard does as well. And there are some MM boutiques from Detroit and Farmington Hills, for example, but I don't know of anyone who went to any of those.
even Blackstone recruits at Michigan. other than Wharton, there isn't more of a surefire 'target school' than Michigan.
Michigan is a great state school, maybe the best. But they're still a tier 3 target, along the likes of Chicago and UVa.
Those are very modest salaries. You don't even have to do banking. You could get there at almost any major corporation, with a good track record and a couple promotions. 100K in 3 years might be a bit quick for an undergrad -- 5 years more realistic -- but certainly you can hit 200+ in 10 years.
This assumes you apply the same diligent work ethic and intelligent politics to that company as you would at an investment bank, and that you don't screw up along the way. Choosing the right company is half the battle.
Hell, if that's all the $$ you need, then why not pick a field that's actually interesting. Unless you find banking interesting.
How does this question even matter. You most probably already know whether the banks visit your school or not. If not then go into an do an intensive search for alumni who are in banking ANYWHERE. The net is a wonderful thing and you dont need to be part of an Ivy with a gold lined alumni club to even know who and where your alumni are.
Get their contacts and hit them. Thats how you get a job/internship. What do you even mean by whether Michigan has a chance? Everyone has a chance. The banks do not have the resources to go to every city and school in America to do the next banking idol contest. Hence the regularly visit the schools where they already have well established networks and are reasonably well aware of student quality.
All the same, there this isnt like a guest list for entering a club. If you have it in you (and you have at least some alumni/relatives/whatever in IBD), you will make it. But from the sound of it, you hardly seem to have it. What will you do even if you get into a MM? When you are trying to get a deal you will ask - do we even have a chance given that gs/lb/ms are also there and they obviously have more brand cachet?
You get it if you want to get it. It will not be easy if you are not from an Ivy/BB. All the same if you start with the belief that you wont, trust me you wont. If you really want to get into IB, start aggressively and dont leave ANY firm out of the search. Why have you given up on the BBs? Why will you ever accept a job where they pay you less than an Ivy with equal experience? Have you already accepted defeat?
This is also to all posters who frequently post with 'what is the reputation of ABC college'? F*ck reputation. Do you want to be a banker? If yes then go and try to become one. You will realise whether there is reputation or not once you have tried. But what will you do if the response you get is 'no your school doesnt have reputation.' Not try?
First of, yes I am a high school senior. Michigan and USC are schools that are matches for me according to other people (although, I think that because I don't have a 4.0 (I have a 3.9) that it'll be harder than they think it is), and pending acceptance, I'm trying to decide which one I should go to. From your posts, I can tell that given how nobody talked about USC, only michigan, that I should basically go there if I want to do banking.
But anyways, its not so much that I'm going to slack off, but I just know that not everyone can make it into banking. Everyone keeps saying "target schools" and so I'm assuming that basically if you don't get into an ivy league school, its going to be EXTREMELY difficult to get in. But I digress. Another reason I'm looking at middle banks is because, although I do like the theory of I-banking, I dislike having to work such terrible hours, and I was hoping that by going to a smaller firm, I'll have a bit better hours, not totally because its hard to get into BB. Also, since I do only want a "modest" salary, if I can get these numbers without working back-busting hours, that would be ideal. Its not that I can't work long hours, its just that I'd rather not if I'm reaching my goal salary-wise anyways.
But you mentioned how this is attainable through other careers, could this be done as a consultant? I'm also considering doing IT consulting or management consulting, so can you make this much as one of those (preferably IT because I like science)?
^^^good post
Michigan is definitely not as big of a target as the ivy league. I would put it at about the same level as UVa and Georgetown. Chicago might be a bit better.
blackstone doesn't recruit at Michigan. Blackrock does.
also...if you go by absolute numbers, michigan might beat other midwestern schools like Chicago, Northwestern, or Notre Dame...but percentage wise, all three of these are likely better. I'm saying this from personal and anecdotal evidence.
Don't know shit about USC though..
plenty of kids from USC at BB, and botiques
mostly in the SF, LA, and Asia offices, but there are still a sprinkling in NYC
You can find USC grads at every firm, but just a handful
Blackstone does recruit at Michigan, but it's for the restructuring group, not private equity. And I only heard of one person getting an offer every once in a while. Same with Lazard.
i think everyone on this board needs to read jc_nyc's post
you hit the nail on the head
i agree with your post johnp686, but the person who started this forum topic is born in 1990, which makes him most probably a high school senior so I dont think he would know a lot.
i still think USC and Umich are great schools, as long as you get into the business schools. work hard, get good internships and i banking after four years should be attainable.
bump
In terms of Michigan not being better than HYPS, there are a lot more summer analysts at Citi from Michigan than the rest of those combined. I don't know about other banks, but at Citi they are considered better.
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