Yale SOM vs Columbia Business vs NYU vs Princeton MFIN
Which school is better for:
1. Obtaining a job as a hedge fund portfolio manager
2. The network for HF capital raising
3. S&T position at Goldman, etc.
EDIT: Including Princeton MFIN
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Never met anyone from Yale SOM on Wall Street......
Not the right framework of reference.
Sarcasm right?
YALE SOM Hiring Organizations
Employers at which at least one member of the Class of 2012 accepted a full-time position or one member of the Class of 2013 accepted an internship. http://som.yale.edu/yale-som-connect/recruiting/employment-statistics#f…
Finance Ageas American Express Banco de Credito del Peru Bank of America Merrill Lynch Bank of China International Barclays Batterymarch Financial Management Bentley Associates L.P. Burrill & Company Cambridge Associates Carlton Capital Cathay Capital Cava Capital CDH Investments Chicago Mercantile Exchange Chinastone Capital Management Citi Credit Suisse Davidson Kempner DBL Investors Deutsche Bank Dimensional Fund Advisors DMV Consultores Doric Asset Finance Corp Emil Capital Partners, LLC Everest Capital F.B. Heron Foundation Faros Trading First Investors Management Forest Capital Partners Franklin Street Partners Goldman Sachs H&Q Asia Pacific Hillhouse Capital Houlihan Lokey HSBC Invesco J.P. Morgan Kynikos Associates Liberty Mutual Group Lumis Partners Macquarie Mark Ventures Media Entertainment Strategy Advisors MetLife Investments Morgan Stanley Munita, Cruzat & Claro New Island Capital Management Nomura Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. PIMCO PlaNet Finance Plural Capital Rare Enterprises Rockwood Capital LC SFJ Ventures Tarpon Investimentos Travelers UBS Verod Capital Management VISA Wells Fargo Securities Yale Investments Office
this doesn't mean I vote for SOM out of the 3, but I did want to direct WSO readers to available stats on the viability of SOM as a finance school. I always liked the fact that the head of the Yale Endowment (David Swenson) pretty much invented alternatives as an asset class, but not sure it gets you a job in the field.
Columbia.
I'd say Columbia is your best option for all three.
Did a quick search on Linkedin and found a good amount of people from Yale SOM in IB and Consulting.
Columbia
If you are a value guy and anticipate targeting value oriented funds then Columbia is by far your best choice (its best regardless) as they have a great value investing program. Are you also applying to H/S/W?
For S&T, there are plenty of alum in the biz from Columbia and NYU.
You'll be in a great position from any of them. Great work getting to this point, keep it up!
Columbia's value program is good even if value isn't your cup of tea (which if you are considering S&T it may not be). Learning to pitch effectively is transferable into pretty much all equity investing and some credit (distressed, HY). If you already have a NY network from your current role, probably easier to keep up with people at CBS or NYU, that will probably be as helpful for raising capital down the line as a b-school network.
Columbia easily
Yale SOM has strong links to the investment banking, consulting, and technology worlds but if you're looking to get into HF/PE/VC try your luck at HBS/GSB/Wharton. That said, Betsy is right that David Swensen is probably the single best asset manager on the planet that you can study with and he teaches at SOM. Keep in mind culture and fit as well. Yale SOM is renowned for its collegial and relaxed atmosphere, yet it still attracts top rate talent from around the world. Also, they are opening a new undergraduate campus in Singapore, the capital of alternative investment vehicles in Asia apart from Hong Kong. Also, also they have some heavy hitting alums from SOM like Jane Mendillo over at the Harvard Management Corporation and Yale University alums like Tom Steyer formerly of Farallon Capital. Steyer's daughter is currently at Yale and he is planning on making some visits and donations to the endowment here from what I've heard.
I don't mind you pitching your school, but this post is misleading. First, for MBA recruiting, quality of faculty does not matter one bit. As a matter of fact, faculty is probably one of the LEAST important things you should look at when deciding which b-school to attend. Second, yes, there are some notable Yale SOM alums in the investment landscape, but they're few and far between and not relevant to current or prospective MBAs looking to break in through on-campus recruiting. Third, Yale SOM alums/students frequently tout Yale undergrad as an asset. This never made sense to me; yes, SOM is part of the broader Yale University, but I've seen almost no evidence that the benefits of the prestigious undergrad program somehow "trickles down" to the b-school.
By and large, Yale SOM is still too new and unestablished. It could change with Dean Snyder's leadership, but the jury is still out. SOM is good however for public sector, social impact investing, and sellside banking. Consulting is OK as well but not entirely sure. For hedge funds/PE/IM, though, I think attending SOM is a mistake, and I would easily take any of the other programs you mentioned (as well as other MBA programs such as tuck, haas, anderson).
Also, if you want to be a portfolio manager you should look into doing your CFA as well.
Columbia, hands down. There are a lot of part time semester long internships from various HFs across the city (and CT) that get sent to the career office, and the adjuncts are well connected in the buy side as well.
None would put you at a disadvantage, but I agree with most here that Columbia is the best place for these goals-- it's their bread and butter.
Just updated with Princeton MFIN.
These four programs are all over the map. Also, Princeton MFin is the most competitive by far.
OP, you're not getting a job as a HF portfolio manager straight out of b-school. That's a long-term goal.
You could get BB S&T at any of the programs you mention, although I have to warn you that trading desks have drastically cut down on MBA hires. They're basically sticking to hiring undergrads and lateral hires. However, for quantitative trading, risk management, derivatives pricing, etc., Princeton MFin stands out from the rest. Good luck though since the acceptance rate is only 4-5%.
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