If I cant get into McIntire is it worth it to go to UVA for economics? I will be an in-state transfer student with a 4.0 and I'm not sure if I should go to William and Mary or JMU for finance over UVA for economics. I want to work for a private equity group and I'm not sure what they look for?
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def uva econ over finance at W&M or JMU, no question.
JMU quantitative finance has a great program (from a learning standpoint) and Virginia Tech has an awesome finance program. On-campus recruiting sucks, but dozens of VT grads go immediately into investment banking--those with the grades and the drive. Never met a single person ever with a finance degree from William & Mary. Go to W&M if you want to go into law, not business. So all is not lost if you don't get into UVa econ.
the skills can be taught it a few months- basically accouting along with simple finance. what they look for is the best they can get- presumable polished smart people- e.g. top school, top grades, top interview.
so assumming PE is still around when you graduate, and you still want it (these are far from a sure thing), then I would go with UVA Econ out of those choices.
I agree with VT4ever. As a JMU grad I am familiar with there on campus recruiting and I echo his sentiments. Each year JMU graduates a small group of quantitative finance majors and they do a great job of placing them. For regular finance majors your chances of working in i-banking are slim to none and going straight to a PE shop is impossible. If you can get into McIntire then go there by all means but JMU quant finance is a solid backup.
I agree with VT4ever. As a JMU grad I am familiar with there on campus recruiting and I echo his sentiments. Each year JMU graduates a small group of quantitative finance majors and they do a great job of placing them. For regular finance majors your chances of working in i-banking are slim to none and going straight to a PE shop is impossible. If you can get into McIntire then go there by all means but JMU quant finance is a solid backup.
i do not know one single person from JMU (interned in IBD at a BB and work full time in S&T at a diff BB) on wall street and have come across tons of UVA grads. it comes down to where do the banks recruit..they all recruit at uva, dont think any recruit at jmu (correct me if im wrong).
Its definitely true that BB banks don't recruit at JMU. The few quant grads that do get jobs on the street typically find them through off campus recruiting. If the original poster is worried about getting into McIntire then he likely won't be able to interview with any of the BB banks that recruit at UVA. I think its competitive enough with the kids that actually got into McIntire, a poor econ major wouldn't have much of a chance.
Its definitely true that BB banks don't recruit at JMU. The few quant grads that do get jobs on the street typically find them through off campus recruiting. If the original poster is worried about getting into McIntire then he likely won't be able to interview with any of the BB banks that recruit at UVA. I think its competitive enough with the kids that actually got into McIntire, a poor econ major wouldn't have much of a chance.
One of the youngest partners at Goldman Sachs went to JMU, but your right they are few and far between. I know all about QFin and dont think its for me. Do BB's look at Econ majors?
yes, major doesnt matter as much as people on this board tend to think. although if you can get into mcintire, it certainly helps.
go uva.
UVA>W&M>>>>>JMU, in fact what is JMU?
JMU = James Madison University?
Go to UVA and take an intro fin accounting course along with any major (econ is always good though). That's all you need for banking. the finance is easy- if youre interested in it you'll very quickly pick it up here and there- dont even have to take a class for that.
Here's a good formula:
Top20school + good gpa + a little fin/acct knowledge = as good a chance as anybody (though still very low)
I don't think the concern here is actually learning material that is relevant to banking.
I go to McIntire and can honestly say that most of what I've learned thus far is almost completely irrelevant to what I intend on doing after school (or maybe "intended" is the proper tense since it now looks like I'm fucked.)
I think instead I'll probably open a few pizza shops in coastal New England towns, so hopefully those strategy classes pay off.
I don't think the concern here is actually learning material that is relevant to banking.
I go to McIntire and can honestly say that most of what I've learned thus far is almost completely irrelevant to what I intend on doing after school (or maybe "intended" is the proper tense since it now looks like I'm fucked.)
I think instead I'll probably open a few pizza shops in coastal New England towns, so hopefully those strategy classes pay off.
UVA>>>>>>>W&M>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>VAtech/JMU
You would have a really hard time getting into ibanking from Va Tech or JMU
calico, that's simply not true. Virginia Tech finance class of 2007 had something like 25 graduates hired into investment banking, including myself, as well as dozens hired onto top firms, such as GE Commercial Finance and all of the Big 4 accounting firms. Comments like yours are simply lazy.
I'm also going to disagree with W&M being greater than VT or JMU in finance recruiting. VT, at least, is very well connected in the DC area and has what I've been told by a number of DC-area boutique investment banks (for example, Taylor Companies) the top finance program as far as caliber of graduating students in the Mid-Atlantic. I'm not even sure W&M has a business school or has graduates who go into anything besides law. Again, just another lazy comment.
I'm sure they have a large alumni network. But business week ranking (which aren't precise but do give a good indication) state:
2 UVA 29 W&M 54 JMU NR VA Tech
Sorry,to clarify the above is for undergraduate business schools.
Congratulations on the rankings. We still placed ~25 finance graduates into investment banking jobs. And this was with basically no on-campus recruiting and little desire by the largely southern student body to even pursue it as a career. Pretty much everyone I knew who wanted to do IB or something similar was able to get it--it takes hard work and some strategic networking, but it's more than doable.
I, too, can point to another subjective ranking that puts us at 43:
http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2008&itemno=500
And that has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on whether or not placement is possible--or even all that difficult--into investment banking from JMU or VT. Not only does it happen, it happens a lot. I'll reiterate my point--posting a link to rankings and saying that this proves that "you would have a really hard time" getting into IB via JMU or VT is simply lazy.
Chill out, I never said it wasn't possible, just that it would be difficult (especially in these times) depending on what career path the kid wanted (regional bank vs. BB, etc). Rankings are extremely subjective but by comparing a few of the major ones, they do give a loose framework on which to start analyzing his choices. Even if he can't get into the business program at UVA they are still useful. I've had friends that went to all three, here is what there opinions were:
VA Tech: large alumni network (particularly in regional banks), very little/no on-campus recruiting JMU: moderately sized alumni network, very little/no on-campus recruiting W&M: small but well established alumni network, on-campus recruiting by some banks (DB, JPM) for IBD (at least when he was there) UVA: don't know anybody that did econ, but I would think just having access to career fairs, alumni network, etc would be a leg up
Just wondering, has anything dramatically changed in regards to the alumni networks of the above schools?
Economics Degree from UVA for Wall Street (Originally Posted: 09/07/2010)
I am a second year at UVA and want to work on Wall Street when I graduate. UVA's McIntire School of Commerce is very highly rated, but also very competitive. I was wondering if I do not get into McIntire would I still have a chance to get hired by a Wall Street firm with an Economics degree? Thanks!
UALacrosse,
I am a fourth year economics major at UVA. I did an internship this past summer with a middle market IB and received an FT offer. It is possible, but you have to be proactive about it and learn the technical stuff on your own. PM if you want more details
HI, I got in UVA as a Econ transfer, how can I transfer into Business school? where could I find the information?
UVA Econ Transfer (Originally Posted: 07/08/2014)
Hey y'all, this is my first post on despite looking at the forums here for sometime.
I'm transferring to UVA as a third-year econ major this upcoming fall and I've recently become interested in pursuing an IB or S&T internship for next summer. I realize that McIntire is the primary target for BB internships but I was hoping to find out if anyone knows if I would be at a severe disadvantage as an econ major? I only recently became interested in finance after doing several political/fundraising internships and realizing that it isn't something for me which is why I never even really considered applying to transfer to McIntire initially.
Thanks!
Shouldn't be severely disadvantaged. They will have some finance classes by the time most recruiting hits in January and obviously could have more targeted work experience but you'll have access to the BBs and EBs on the main career site. Some MM and boutiques will only target McIntire on their own career website but you can always reach out to them on your own.
But getting a summer analyst position shouldn't be out of the question. Get your story down, hit the study guides and start networking preferably before school starts so you can talk in person. You might be able to do some over winter break but I think some BBs do recruiting before break. Econ isn't nontraditional as that is the business major for some schools but I've found BBs to be more open to more varied backgrounds b/c they have training to fall back on.
Some good friends of mine go to UVA and they say OCR is only available to McIntire. On the note however, I don't think it is a stretch for you to be able to land an internship at a BB bank if you network.
To clarify, re: OCR or as UVA calls it, OGI, they have two websites. One is general student body and one is only McIntire. Most firms, especially the BBs use the general one for the entire student body and they have interviews in the football boxes. McIntire has their own website for interviews held in McIntire but this is more of your boutiques like Sagent or some MMs like Harris Williams.
I believe the only restrictions on the general website is graduation date. While they target McIntire kids, they aren't going to say no to qualified econ or even engineering students. Coming in as a transfer (with no grades at UVA, and not sure what your academic background is) along with the lack of more targeted work experience might work against you which is why I'd make sure to network.
JMU must be your last choice. JMU is a large state school and does not compare with academics or prestige to UVA. JMU is your last option. I'd hit W&M first and then UVA. i'm sure a private equity group would love a kid from the small but elite W&M Tribe.
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