Washington and Lee University
As a recent high school graduate and future member of Washington and Lee's Class of 2015, I was curious to see what everyone on WSO thought about the school. Although it's not a target school, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley have been some of the top employers hiring W&L graduates for the past few years. This seems especially surprising to me since the school is very small (about 2,000 undergraduates) and is relatively unknown. I haven't found much on the school searching around WSO and I would love to hear any thoughts or opinions on W&L from people who actually work on Wall Street, and more specifically in investment banking. Thanks.
[mod edit] I'm an asshat
WL is not bad at all as a great ug
WashLee is all about Greek life. Seriously, you'll discover that when you get there but if you're not in a frat/sorority you're fucked. Join a frat, network with alums, etc.
It's also not a particularly academically-demanding school so make sure that the positions GS/JPM/MS are hiring for are in the front office...
I know two kids from W&L 2009 graduating class that got IBD jobs, so it's absolutely doable.
reddog23, I'd be happy to delete it, but I'm not quite sure how to go about doing that
I'm reasonably sure getting rid of the entire thread is the only way to do it. To delete the thread, you click on the edit button just under the title (right next to view). You then scroll about halfway down the page to where it says delete and click on that.
If you could do that and repost the thread, that would be great. It could potentially keep some innocent kid who unfortunately happened to have a relatively common first name from getting dinged.
Bill, I'm a W&L alum... I did BB investment banking after graduation as well as an internship before my senior year. I had interviews with Lehman, DB, JPM and BAML through on-campus recruiting (i.e., W&L was a target school for each of these banks at the time, not sure who recruits there currently). I now work at a mezzanine debt fund.
Feel free to PM me with any questions about the school and interview process. The best thing about Washington and Lee is the alumni network, Generals definitely go to bat for other Generals during the recruiting/hiring process. There are a lot more W&Lers working on Wall Street than you would think for such a small school.
This pretty much sums it up - W&L has an extremely strong alumni network, and for whatever reason they seem to ALWAYS look out for their own. Good school
Anyone who says W&L is a sub par school is full of shit. W&L is a solid school that I'm sure IS challenging academically. I just graduated from a similar school (small liberal arts school). NYC is right. The advantage you have at a place like W&L is the network. There are plenty of W&L people in IBanking (throughout the south especially) who will be glad to help you out. In fact, my buddy's dad was an MD at JP Morgan and recently opened his own boutique. He's a W&L alum and I'm talking to him next week.
If you do well in school (3.4+), get involved around campus, and tap WL network you shouldn't have a problem.
I never heard about W&L until not too long ago, and found out that it places pretty well for such a small school. As long as you put in some effort, I think you have a chance of getting a decent gig.
Enjoy going to the same couple bars for literally the entirety of your college experience. I lived in Lexington for a bit and it gets boring as fuck. That being said, you can definitely do really well placement wise coming out of WL its just a matter of networking and talking to the right people. Really loyal alums.
I'm a recent alumni finishing up my IBD stint and I will be going into PE later this summer. The school has a really strong IBD track record. My class had approximately 25 people go into IBD primarily in bulge bracket. There were a bunch of other people that went into S&T and ER. That is not bad considering that only around 60 people in every grade try to go into banking.
For example, JPM will take 5 - 6 alumni in every class. The school has a setup where the most bulge brackets can make internship and FT offers after an on-campus interview with no super day required.
The school also has an unique internship program with most of the bulge bracket banks where juniors will start their internships at the beginning of May, and they are well ahead of the rest of the internship class which start up in June. In this program you are only interviewing against other W&L students so your chances to land the internship and eventual FT offer are quite good. This is on top of the traditional internship program.
Keep your GPA above 3.5, and do well in on-campus recruiting and you will easily get a job on Wall Street
As a member of the class of 2012 at W&L, and having already accepted an I-banking job, I have to say that not only is it possible, its relatively likely. Our alumni base is solid, our career services department does a fantastic job bringing in all sorts of firms and if your a member of the Williams Investment Society you get an even greater exposure. Sure, sororities/fraternities play a small role simply because a lot of the people who interview for JPM, GS, WF, BAML, HW&Co, Lincoln, etc are recent alumni and if you happen to be in an organization with one of the analysts then they have a better chance to get to know you and can speak up for you after the interview.
W&L had a lot of alumni at Lehman which hurt in 2008 but JPM has steadily increased its presence on campus.
So for the numbers that I'm aware of as of today for full-time offers for the class of 2012: 5@ JPM, 3@GS, 3 @ HW&Co, 2@BAML, 5@WF, 2@MS, 3@SunTrust, plus another 10 at middle markets and boutiques. That's 23 already for a class of around 400. I'll agree with Balla in that you should keep your GPA around 3.5 and try to join WIS and you'll be set. Also, network with Professors Schwartz, Hoover, Kester, Oliver, Culpepper and Dean Peppers if you get the chance.
also 3 @ DB, but totally right the alumni are so loyal that they have essentially turned it into a target for most BBs
Thinking about transferring to W&L or U Chicago. Both are totally different/opposite schools. Which one places better for IB?
Also W&L seems pretty cozy with JPM and DB, but how do they do with GS and MS? And do W&L grads get front office jobs? Their career center listed alums at these bulge bracket firms in Dallas, Atlanta, Philly = Bad locations (Not NYC)
Couple things of note:
I'm not sure you can find two top tier schools that are more different from each other than UChicago and W&L. It should be pretty obvious to you where you fit in socially, and you should go there.
Speaking to my first point, you can absolutely go FO NYC from W&L. You'll have to do a little more work than the targets but it's possible. W&L alumni are fiercely loyal and if you network well they will go to bat for you.
Not sure if you consider Dallas/ATL bad locations overall or just for finance. For finance I'd be inclined to agree with you (especially for entry-level, when you're higher up the ladder location doesn't matter as much from what I've seen.) However, if you think Dallas/ATL are bad locations overall, you probably won't fit in at W&L and it will be a long 2 or 3 years for you.
Full of WASPs. You'll be fine.
The fact that you're considering both W&L and UChicago kind of makes me think you carpet bombed your transfer apps and those are the best schools that you got into. Someone who is happy and 'fits in' at one place would, almost definitely, hate the other.
Note: Lexington, VA is tiny as fuck. Like there are 2 bars there and they have been the same since the 70s. You think that doesn't matter but it will after a few months.
happypants keeps repeating this point. The town itself has a boring nightlife but student/school nightlife is not associated with the town at all. Ask anyone who goes to or has visited W&L and they will tell you it is an immensely fun school with a unique party scene that is plenty entertaining for four years
Just made the decision to go to W&L. @NYC123 How did you go about getting set up for something in NYC.
Class of 2016 Washington and lee front office IB, AM. jobs.
Can someone give us the numbers?
Do a search on linkedin for "Washington and Lee", click "students and alumni", graduation year "2016".. Looks pretty solid. 4 to JP, 3 DB WF and alot of MMs (all ibd)
4% of the 2016 Analyst class at JPMorgan's NYC office are from W&L.
source: http://news.efinancialcareers.com/uk-en/218782/the-top-universities-for…
Washington and Lee (Originally Posted: 02/27/2012)
Headed to Washington and Lee next year. I know they have pretty good connections with JPM and DB, but how do they stack up on the street? How's the networking with Alumni?
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Harris Williams recruits there as well.
JPM, DB, Harris Williams, BB&T, STRH, VRA Parters, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo all usually take people each year.
Harris of Harris Williams' niece went to W&L and Williams of Harris Williams went to Washington and Lee... easy to say they recruit there heavily. I would add BAML to Texarkana's list above as a school that has a strong presence at W&L. Not sure if they still recruit there as a "target" school, but a lot of people from my class and subsequent classes have worked at BAML. Networking with alums is top notch at W&L, and I doubt it would be better at any other school (I have plenty of friends that went to a bunch of great schools but a common theme among them was that their cold emailing or calling of alums never worked, whereas mine had about a 90% response/help rate). PM me with any questions you have, I'm an alum.
JPM, WFC, Citi, BAML, DB and a huge group of MMs including Harris Williams, Lincoln International, and Stephens all took multiple candidates from the senior class this year. Probably ~70% of people that wanted banking jobs got them, so placement has been very good. PM me with any other questions.
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