What makes target Unis special?

I basically had this discussion with a colleauge the other day and we did not came to a conclusion.
We don´t live in the USA or UK, here in central western Europe we have a lot of state Unis that are very good but do not cost a lot (probably ~40 Euro per year).

Some subjects are regulated which means that you have to pass a test to get into Uni, there are also first tests after the first semester which have to be passed to take other subjects in Uni.

Therefore smart people can go to Uni, no matter if they have rich parents or not.

When I look through the target Uni list of IBs I see that the one thing they have in common is that they are expensive as f*ck! I saw some Unis in the Uk that cost around 40 grand a year ONLY to study, not including your normal expenses.. This probably makes up 5 grand a month only for your living expenses.

Are the target unis so much better in what they teach? We know someone who studys in Harvard and was previously at our Uni, he said some subjects are more difficult but some are easier.
That´s the same here around the country, one business school is known for to have very hard accounting classes the other one is known for extremely hard economic classes, but that´s it.

I think this system is extremely questionable, sure, they have to make a cut somewhere but I sometimes question myself when I see that someone with a geographics Bsc (!!!!) from Harvard/Yale/etc. got into IB while other extremely good business students from non targets don´t even get a interview.
A geographic Bsc. from a normal Uni over here would only get you to the unemployment center.

Can anyone relate or are you all rich target uni kids?

 

I think the idea is that if you were able to get into a target, that alone is a testament to how hard you worked/the effort you put in high school. Of course, there will always be the legacies, rich kids, etc. Also, you know schools have scholarships and financial aid packages, right? For example, over half of students at Harvard receive some level of aid.

I do agree with your sentiment about non-targets finding it difficult to even get an interview, though.

 

yeah that´s in the states but not over here... there are no target unis in our country, if you want to study med for example you have to be extremely smart to pass the tests to get in. Even if you have rich parents they won´t let you into Uni because of that.

The only thing I could imagine is to work extremely hard in our Bsc degree and get the best grades as possible and then proceed to a target uni for a masters and hope to get financial aid from institutions.

What I do see a lot though is that they give out financial aid especially for technical students to go to explore something abroad, I never saw that for business students though.

 
[Comment removed by mod team]
 

I don't deny that legacies have an easier time gaining admission. I would also wonder what percentage of that is just due to the fact that having parent(s) from Harvard may also lead to higher family income, better schooling opportunities, money to pursue tutoring & extracurriculars, etc., which would lead to a higher chance of admission.

 
Most Helpful
subtletea:
I don't deny that legacies have an easier time gaining admission. I would also wonder what percentage of that is just due to the fact that having parent(s) from Harvard may also lead to higher family income, better schooling opportunities, money to pursue tutoring & extracurriculars, etc., which would lead to a higher chance of admission.

I feel like the bare minimum is you do well academically. If you’re given training by virtue of your parents’ influence/money, but that’s everyone applying, what does this add to the community? The legacy thing, I think, is a way for these institutions to ‘sell’ spots of admission, which alternatively incentivizes schools that way.

 

Selection Bias.

Also, let's say a candidate can be scored on a scale of 1 to 100 for this example. (100 being the best score one can receive).

Why would a bank go to a state school and sift through thousands of kids to find that one kid that scores a "100" when they can just go to a target school? Maybe that one "100" is better than all the Harvard kids technically, but they don't care. Banking isn't really all that much of a meritocracy. If Goldman can save hundreds of thousands of dollars in recruiting expenses by going to target schools and getting an entire class of analysts that all score, let's say, 90 to 100 based on their criteria, it makes no sense for them to go to 30 different state schools, pay for lodging, expenses, salary, just to net-net the same AVERAGE class score.

 

Yeah I think in the states the system is a lot different compared to here! Basically we all go to the same Universitys over here, the people who are not smart enough get filtered out via tests. So we have pretty smart minds here in our Unis but also a lot of standard students.

I don´t say that they are stupid they just don´t are that driven or career oriented, they don´t look after good grades and are probably satisfied when finding a 40hour job that pays solid.

 

I've heard repeated a few times, "You could lock a cohort of MIT students in a library for four years and they'd come out just as educated."

US Targets are great because they attract great students who go on to do great things, which makes the school look great which attracts great students, etc.

The difference in my education at a target compared to my friends who went to a flagship state school (at 25% of the cost) was minimal. But the difference in my experience was significant, because I was exclusively surrounded by incredibly smart people and obscene amounts of money.

 

yeah I´m so jealous of that allone bud... My Uni is good, courses are good, tech is good everything works fine...

But the people, yeah... Nobody cares about anything instead of very few individuals, also no one seems to be interested in finance. We can choose 2 classes in our Bsc degree where we write our bsc thesis and have a special focus on. The banking & finance classes are always empty because they are "too hard" while marketing classes are overcrowded.

Some people choose the subjects on which they write their thesis on how easy the course is and how nice the professor is.

Not kidding.

 

Nihil atque molestias aperiam. Nemo vel quas placeat cum. Ut porro velit nobis perferendis est debitis rerum ut.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”