Comprehensive List of Target Schools for Investment Banking

For high schoolers interested in pursuing careers on Wall Street, school selection is extremely important. The majority of recruiting that happens for Wall Street banks occurs at what are called “target schools.”

investment banking target School Definition

Target schools are the schools that banks actively plan to recruit students from. These schools will often have on campus recruiting which mean that there will be networking sessions and interviews that occur at the university.

2017 Bulge Bracket Banks – Target Schools

Generally speaking, target schools are ivy league or ivy league equivalent schools but in recent years prestigious state schools have been improving their representation at banks making these schools a good alternative to the Ivy League.
According the WSO Investment Banking Industry Report, we have found the top ten target schools in 2017 to be:

  • University of Pennsylvania
  • New York University
  • Harvard University
  • University of Cambridge
  • Cornell University
  • The University of Texas at Austin
  • Columbia University
  • Duke University
  • University of Chicago
  • University of Michigan

These top 10 schools represent ~22% of all recruitment and hiring of bulge bracket banks in 2017.

The below picture, a screen shot from the WSO Investment Banking University Report shows the percentage of the recruiting class that comes from each school. You can find out about the recruitment from various schools in the report.


However, there are many other universities that make up the remaining 78% of all bulge bracket bank hires. Some other notable universities include:

  • Yale University
  • University of Cambridge
  • University of Virginia (UVA)
  • Boston College
  • Duke University
  • UCLA
  • London School of Economics
  • Princeton University
  • Georgetown
  • Northwestern University
  • Arizona State University
  • Brigham Young University
  • Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Penn State University

These firms all place well on Wall Street and are targets at particular firms. For example – Penn State is a target school at Bank of America Merrill Lynch but not at JP Morgan. This is not just true for non-ivy league schools. WSO’s research indicates that Harvard, UPenn, NYU, and Duke were the only schools in the top ten listed schools that were targeted by all big banks. You can read more about this statistic in the WSO industry report.

2017 Boutique Bank – Target Schools

While perspective bankers often focus on the JP Morgan and Bank of Americas of the world, there are many other banks looking to hire quality undergraduate candidates. Some of these other notable banks include Houlihan Lokey, Lazard, HSBC, SunTrust, Evercore, BMO, Piper Jaffray, RBC, Moelis, Jefferies, Macquarie, and Rothschild to name a few.
Some of these firms have a more regional focus and also look to other schools aside from those mentioned. Some of the schools targeted by these firms include:

  • University of Western Ontario
  • Indiana University
  • Vanderbilt University
  • University of California, Berkeley
  • University of Southern California, USC
  • UCLA
  • Dartmouth
  • University of Illinois at Urbana
  • University of Waterloo
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

This list is by no means exhaustive and you can find more about university placement onto Wall Street through the WSO Investment Banking University Report.

Learn More About A Career In Investment Banking In WSO

Want to Learn More About Investment Banking Recruiting?

The Investment Banking University Recruiting Report shares 7 key takeaways based partially on the data discussed above and sheds light on the schools that banks are recruiting from. This is an extremely helpful resource when looking to determine which schools to apply to.

Investment Banking University Recruiting Report

 

I think Ivy's, Stanford, Duke, NYU, UVA, UMichigan are all safe bets for recruiting opportunities (not sure about MIT). UChicago and Northwestern are also decent. Rest depend on the firm

 

Top target: Harvard, Upenn, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, MIT, Duke, Stanford, Darthmouth, Brown

Second target: UChicago, NYU, Michigan, Northwestern, Williams, and so on

caveat:Tried to put this roughly in order and include the huge ones but i'm not in the mood to give an actual 'comprehensive list'...

Basically, its a straight prestige ranking with a few differentiating factors. Ex: Upenn is higher than the rest of the iveys except Harvard only due to factoring in Wharton. Stanford isn't as high due to being on the West Coast and the fact that students there are not quite as IB-hyped as east-coasters.

Go to the most prestigious school you can if you're determined to go into ib.

P.S. Not to attack you personally but I find it sad that someone who hasn't gotten into college yet is already determined to be a banker. You should at least get into college before you're corrupted by greed and all that.

Maybe banking is becoming like medicine or law now. Pretty soon 8 year olds will all want to be bankers.

 

you have things a bit mixed up (at least by this year's placements). Top: Wharton, Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Cornell, Duke, NYU, Stanford, Columbia, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth then there are the rest. its mainly dependent on the networks at the individual banks but these are the top ones, roughly in order though not exact.

 

they basically get cut first when there's a downturn. plus, you're expected to bullshit 'internships' at banks during the year to be competitive. basically, getting coffee. with every single person there gunning for investment banking, 'placement' is fuzzy

also, brown? uh. i think some places skip them altogether (at least we did)

 

Agreed. In the end, the reason why schools become "target" school is because they have strong alum representation and great yields from offers to acceptances. One of the non-BB non-U.S. banks recently dropped my alma mater (as classified above a "supreme" target) from their 'target' school list simply because they were only able to convert 1 out of 7 or 8 offers into accepts.

although i'm sure it differs from bank to bank, mine even "tiers" out the different levels of target-ness. So we have "core", "targeted", "reference", "non-targets" and "special" (study abroads and SEO is lumped here). Certain schools this year fell from "core" to "targeted", whatever that means. Basically, I think it's like the recruiting efforts are just halved but they definitely still interview. They just might not do on-campus presentations often/workshops/etc.

 

The NYU comment is simply not true. every bank goes there, and students get placed in everything from GS to Lazard (people I know). It is very much so a "target" school.

I am not an alumni and have no bias.

 

Though I will agree about the need for externships during the year. One of the benefits (or drawbacks) about going to school in the city. Some people will do them, so o remain competitive you should to. It is def. not required though.

 

If you go to Northwestern, have a good GPA, add some decent ECs and internships, you'll have no problem finding a job at a bank. Maybe not BB or maybe you have to work in Chicago instead of NYC, but its a quality school nonetheless. Plus they have Big 10 sports and it's 5x more fun than UChicago, if you are thinking of going to one of those schools. UChicago is a dead zone for fun and good looking women.

 

All the BB's recruit at NU, so id say its defnitely a target. But there are significantly less NU grads getting offers for BB IB in NYC. For Chicago banks, NU/UChicago are golden... despite UChi being more highly ranked these days, I think they are equally well-regarded in terms of IB recruitment across the board. Undoubtedly, NU people are more laid back and easier to get along with than your average UChi weirdo.

 
McGyver:
Fact: NYU has the 4th most interns at GS firmwide out of any school. So you basically are a fucking idiot

Of course NYU has an enormous amount of interns firmwide. Stern is a decent accounting school and it's 15 minutes away from headquarters/ 30 minutes away from Jersey City. So it places a lot of people in controllers or other groups in federation (non-revenue generating).

 
AnonymousDude:
McGyver:
Fact: NYU has the 4th most interns at GS firmwide out of any school. So you basically are a fucking idiot

Of course NYU has an enormous amount of interns firmwide. Stern is a decent accounting school and it's 15 minutes away from headquarters/ 30 minutes away from Jersey City. So it places a lot of people in controllers or other groups in federation (non-revenue generating).

I've never met anyone from NYU with so much school spirit....

 

The Ivy League is an athletic conference-nothing less, nothing more.

Still pissed about your rejection?

________________________________________ø__________________________________________ "Now that my friend is a clear cut case of him or me. And you best believe it ain't gonna be me."

________________________________________ø__________________________________________ "Now that my friend is a clear cut case of him or me. And you best believe it ain't gonna be me."
 

________________________________________ø__________________________________________ "Now that my friend is a clear cut case of him or me. And you best believe it ain't gonna be me."

________________________________________ø__________________________________________ "Now that my friend is a clear cut case of him or me. And you best believe it ain't gonna be me."
 
crackedeggshell:
This may sound like an obvious question. But are these target schools for undergrad or MBA?

undergrad. all target undergrads have "target" (M7) MBAs as well

ordell robbie:
The Ivy League is an athletic conference-nothing less, nothing more. Still pissed about your rejection?

i think you misunderstood... im pretty sure tbroker didnt get rejected anywhere :-) and he's right about brown/cornell being "lesser" ivies, that's common knowledge.

 
pedigreed monkey:
crackedeggshell:
This may sound like an obvious question. But are these target schools for undergrad or MBA?

undergrad. all target undergrads have "target" (M7) MBAs as well

ordell robbie:
The Ivy League is an athletic conference-nothing less, nothing more. Still pissed about your rejection?

i think you misunderstood... im pretty sure tbroker didnt get rejected anywhere :-) and he's right about brown/cornell being "lesser" ivies, that's common knowledge.

How do you know where the fuck this dude did or didn't get rejected from?! Quit the dick riding for five minutes and realize how stupid you sound.

I don't give a shit about where you rank these schools, but when you say some dumb shit like "they shouldn't even be considered Ivy league," you're going to be called out on it.

________________________________________ø__________________________________________ "Now that my friend is a clear cut case of him or me. And you best believe it ain't gonna be me."

________________________________________ø__________________________________________ "Now that my friend is a clear cut case of him or me. And you best believe it ain't gonna be me."
 

MBA business schools ">M7 = Magnificent 7

It consists of the following graduate business schools: Harvard Stanford Penn (Wharton) MIT (Sloan) Columbia Northwestern (Kellogg) Chicago

Apparently the deans of these seven business schools meet on a recurring basis.

Founder, Volunteer Forever http://www.volunteerforever.com
 

Thanks pedigreed monkey for answering my question.

What is the general path that someone would follow in order to get into IB? At what point in college would they try intern, what is the position that people try gun for to start off in the industry, do most people go from completing their undergrad right into starting their MBA etc.? Thanks

 

Just my two sense, all of the ivies are great, I don't know about all the criticizing of 'lesser ivies' as any of them will give you great chances at IB/consulting etc...

Some of them might be less recruited, say Brown, but probably because less people from the school intend to do ib, and from what I know, I'd say it is even easier to get into IB from a school like that since you're not competing with as many from your own school and the recruiters will still think well of you (especially with the Ivy pedigree, if they have one of their own)

So please don't criticize Cornell or Brown because they are school with sub 20% acceptance nowadays I believe... hell eh.

 

To speak subjectively, I believe NYU students stand to benefit from the market downturn. While banks across the board are cutting costs by not racking up exorbitant travel expenses to visit schools such as Duke and Cornell, many find NYU a mere subway ride away. This year, we've had a number of BB, pretty much every single top boutique, and even a couple top buyout funds come to campus. I'll acknowledge that during a good year, the top targets (a la Harvard/Wharton) will send a greater absolute number of people into front office positions, but during a down year such as 2008, NYU's proximity to many a company's headquarters positions it attractively with regards to campus recruiting.

 

Williams/Amherst should be included on the list of target schools, not semi-target.

I can only speak for one of the two, but at that school the list of BB's recruiting on campus for FT/SA were:

Morgan Stanley Goldman Sachs JP Morgan Citi Barclays DB Wells Fargo Lazard (Not BB, but top boutique)

In addition there were a number of MM and boutique banks on campus as well as other financial service companies (hedge funds, etc). Also, it is relatively easy to break into the three BB's that don't come to campus (UBS, CS, BAML) there are atleast 2 kids going to these firms every year by utilizing the alumni network.

It is relatively easy to secure a position coming from Amherst/Williams because the pool of candidates is very small (small schools combined with a small number of people interested in finance). The lack of competition coupled with an extremely strong and supportive alumni network make these two schools great choices for breaking into banking.

Example: A top tier (GS/MS/JPM) firm came to campus and explained that they would take at least 1-2 interns from the school (Amherst/Williams) and only interviewed 12 people on campus. 1 or 2 out of 12 aint bad odds...

 
skyblue:
It might be considered bad odds if that means hundreds of kids get 12 spots which lead to 1 or 2 out of hundreds

That's the point, there aren't hundreds of kids. If you go to an undergrad b-school then you're going to be competing against 100 kids from your school for the 12 first round on campus interview spots. At these schools you're competing against... 25 for those 12 interview spots?

 

SA hopeful is right, a top LAC is pretty good for recruitmen too. I know Williams/Amherst/Pomona/Claremont get some action and many kids there are not interested in finance, which is good for competition sakes.

Meanwhile, I know Stern sends a good amount of kids but Stern is HUGE. Plus you are competing against basically everyone who wants a BB front office job and I know for a fact many are disappointed.

 

You have to make sure IB is something that you really want to do because if you end up in a target school the competition will be intense. Most BB interview around 24 candidates at my school but over 200 people drop for those positions, half of whom has relevant internships during sophomore year and/or 3.8+ GPAs.

I knew these kids since freshmen year, every major decision they make is geared toward banking or S&T, by the time they are juniors even their breath begins to smell like a pitchbook. If you are SURE that this is something you want then prepare to rush through the crowd with a tunnel vision, and you will most likely succeed, regardless of which target or semi-target you choose.

 

ND is the best. Look, let us think about this logically shall we. You guys all say that Wharton has the number one business placemnet, even beating Harvard. So then, if ND beats Wharton, then it obviously beats Harvard, Yale, Princeton and like schools also based on YOUR "facts"

ND has been proven to be better than MIT Sloan, Haas, Wharton, and Stern.

ND has the No. 1 Student satisfaction and it burried Sloan and Wharton and Haas in sending kids to the top jobs (Big 4 Accounting firms). Harvard's placement to PWC does not even TOUCH ND's.

ND is no.5 on the recuiter surver, only a handfull of school: Seattle (Albers), Hawaii (Shidler), MIT (Sloan), and ND's closest rival Virginia (McIntire) beat it. But it beats out Wharton, Stern, and Haas!

So Shut up ! You obviously have no idea what you are tlaking about. Perhaps you should consider transferring to ND from Harvard or wherever you are; who knows, you may get lucky and get it. Fighting Irish !!!

Don't take my word for it either! The most reputable business magazine on earth, Businessweek, is the one that compiled these rankings not me. Go here to check them out (You will see everything I said above is accurate):

http://bx.businessweek.com/business-school-rankings/view?url=http%3A%2F…

 

[quote=empirestate]ND is the best. Look, let us think about this logically shall we. You guys all say that Wharton has the number one business placemnet, even beating Harvard. So then, if ND beats Wharton, then it obviously beats Harvard, Yale, Princeton and like schools also based on YOUR "facts"

ND has been proven to be better than MIT Sloan, Haas, Wharton, and Stern.

ND has the No. 1 Student satisfaction and it burried Sloan and Wharton and Haas in sending kids to the top jobs (Big 4 Accounting firms). Harvard's placement to PWC does not even TOUCH ND's.

ND is no.5 on the recuiter surver, only a handfull of school: Seattle (Albers), Hawaii (Shidler), MIT (Sloan), and ND's closest rival Virginia (McIntire) beat it. But it beats out Wharton, Stern, and Haas!

So Shut up ! You obviously have no idea what you are tlaking about. Perhaps you should consider transferring to ND from Harvard or wherever you are; who knows, you may get lucky and get it. Fighting Irish !!!

Don't take my word for it either! The most reputable business magazine on earth, Businessweek, is the one that compiled these rankings not me. Go here to check them out (You will see everything I said above is accurate):

http://bx.businessweek.com/business-school-rankings/view?url=http%3A%2F…]

Never in my life have I witness such an immature, little baby such as yourself. Where are your comprehension skills? You started this pissing match in an old thread and I see you revive a month old thread just to prove you misguided point. Business week is not ranking schools based on target or anything else. It is based on student rankings. ND students are very happy with their school. That is all this is saying.

Rankings change year to year and are arbitrary and worthless. Let me give you some advice, learn to relax and get over yourself. Finance is a small world with many individuals in it. One day you might get an interview with someone that went to ND or any other variety of schools. Stop worrying about where your school ranks or how this school is better than the next and try judging people based on their efforts and achievements.

 
empirestate:
ND has been proven to be better than MIT Sloan, Haas, Wharton, and Stern.
empirestate:
burried Sloan and Wharton and Haas in sending kids to the top jobs (Big 4 Accounting firms). Harvard's placement to PWC does not even TOUCH ND's.
empirestate:
most reputable business magazine on earth, Businessweek

OK so it's a troll, but it is mildly amusing at points.

- Child Please.
 
aquamarinee:
That guy is definitely an ND Troll.

He is being sarcastic. He says he goes to Haas, but I think he goes to Wharton. He was bitching in another thread about how ridiculous the rankings are, etc. Just doesn't understand that not everyone wants IBanking and how the rankings are compiled. End of the day who cares where you go to school.

People like this kid are going to have serious issues working under someone who didn't go to a "target". He will probably refuse to take orders from the UMich associate on his 1st day or work because someone so unworthy doesn't have the right to order a target kid around. Really bad mindset to have.

 

Wow so he really just has nothing better to do with his time!

People like this kid are going to have serious issues working under someone who didn't go to a "target". He will probably refuse to take orders from the UMich associate on his 1st day or work because someone so unworthy doesn't have the right to order a target kid around. Really bad mindset to have.

That's assuming he even gets into IBD in the first place...

 

There is no way this kid goes to Wharton; if he did, this ranking would not bother him at all. Wharton would never admit such an insecure tool. I have a feeling he does not go to Wharton or Haas. In fact, I have a feeling he is trying to make Haas (or possibly Wharton, who knows) look bad. This whole thing is very toolish and arrogant.

empirestate, When you get to your interviews, if you get to your interviews, remember this: your school won't mean shit, it's what you do that matters. With an attitude like yours, you're not going anywhere.

 

How are these threads always the most popular? It's like weeds (not the type you smoke or the MILF weed show) but the annoying kind that keeps popping up in gardens.

ND, in my humble opinion is more known for their accounting undergrad business program. Being based so close to Chi city. This might have changed. Good school and the Fighting Irish and top-notch accounting program.

To previous poster. CMU places decent in BB, though Semi-target at best as far as I know. Though more so in Trading, Forex, Quants, etc. type of roles. Citadel, Jane Street, etc. I think some BB do recruit for IBD, but not many from what I know of, and not the highest tiers, GS/MS/JPM. I think it's a solid school for aspiring traders (Tepper) not so sure for IBD.

If the other poster, EmpireState.... does not go to Haas and lies in an anonymous online forum just to get his/her jollies on. You're lamer than an US prez in his 11th hour in Office. Piss off. I appreciate this site for honest answers and insight from people in different industries that are for the most part very driven and well aware of the "inside story" instead of the BS spun by media and companies.

----------------------------------------------------------------- Hug It Out
 
Ari_Gold:
How are these threads always the most popular? It's like weeds (not the type you smoke or the MILF weed show) but the annoying kind that keeps popping up in gardens.

ND, in my humble opinion is more known for their accounting undergrad business program. Being based so close to Chi city. This might have changed. Good school and the Fighting Irish and top-notch accounting program.

To previous poster. CMU places decent in BB, though Semi-target at best as far as I know. Though more so in Trading, Forex, Quants, etc. type of roles. Citadel, Jane Street, etc. I think some BB do recruit for IBD, but not many from what I know of, and not the highest tiers, GS/MS/JPM. I think it's a solid school for aspiring traders (Tepper) not so sure for IBD.

If the other poster, EmpireState.... does not go to Haas and lies in an anonymous online forum just to get his/her jollies on. You're lamer than an US prez in his 11th hour in Office. Piss off. I appreciate this site for honest answers and insight from people in different industries that are for the most part very driven and well aware of the "inside story" instead of the BS spun by media and companies.

From a class of 80 something 2 undergraduates from CMU went to Goldman Sachs and 1 went to Morgan Stanely. CMU is definitely a target for IB but I'm not so sure about consulting.

 

Patel.

Cool, thanks for clarifying. I didn't know CMU Undergrad B-school was that small. And I always thought it was more quantitative focused program. And the friends of mine from CMU in banking are all traders, a few at Jane Street, etc., and 1 IBD at lower BB. This was based purely on my own knowledge and reputation of school. Didn't know they sent 2 to GS and MS IBD from UG. Thanks for heads up.

----------------------------------------------------------------- Hug It Out
 

I know everyone will probable think I am crazy for saying this but I believe Rutgers is a great school for Banking. It is definitely on the rise. The business school us getting more difficult to get into and more and more companies are coming to recruit. I am currently a student there and see much potential...I see many students and alums in IBanking positions as well as S&T. So far this year Citi, Goldman, and Barclay have been on campus...not just for operations but firmwide.

 

My that is horrible grammar , I'm not too sure what's becoming of me that's embarrassing . I wouldn't worry too much about my English though considering my SAT scores . Let me rephrase my question for you , shall I ? ' Does anyone have the latest list of target schools available for big IB firms like Goldman Sachs ? I'll be applying to colleges for UG by this November/December and a list would be great . '

 

Hey guys, I've heard that WS also takes some students from Richard Ivey Biz School (in Canada). Does anyone know more about this? Like approx. how many do they take from this school and compare to Ross?

 

Hey guys, I've heard that WS also takes some students from Richard Ivey Biz School (in Canada). Does anyone know more about this? Like approx. how many do they take from this school and compare to Ross?

 

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being "easiest to find an iBanking job" I would rank the "top schools" as the following:

Harvard - 10 Yale - 10 Princeton - 10 Wharton - 9.5 (even though more people in Wharton probably get iBanking jobs, it's most likely because theres a lot of students who want that type of job) MIT - 9 Stanford/CalTech - 8 Other Ivy League Schools - 5-7

 

Hey guys, I've heard that WS also takes some students from Richard Ivey Biz School (in Canada). Does anyone know more about this? Like approx. how many do they take from this school and compare to Ross?

 

is fine for Chicago and NYC....LAC like Middleburry, Bates, and Bowdion are good too..They don't have many people on street cause students aren't interested in banking as much as other school, however, still prestigous.

Wachovia in Charlotte recruits at Davidson. I don't think any of the NYC BBs do, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

apm, you are led incorrectly. Your probably hearing this from a) someone who goes to Stern b) someone who goes to Columbia or c) someone who goes to Chicago.

Great: Princeton, Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, MIT Other great schools: The rest of the Ivies, Duke, Michigan bschool, Berkeley bschool, Chicago is good too

Basically take the US News college rankings and take the top 15.

http://www.ibankingoasis.com/node/5768

^Reference, the only actual complete bank recruitment list posted on this forum so far

 

Here we go again, more debate on targets vs. non-targets. Banks hire from both pools. It's much harder to get into a BB from a non-target, but it is possible. I did it. I looked onto my bank's HR website, looked at the list of target schools (clearly laid out, and the recuiting proceedures ate each). Do I care? Nope. Does my MD ask at bonus time whether I came from a target school, nope.

If you go to a top school, and BB are everywhere, you've got it easy. Brush up on your skills and it shouln't be too difficult. If you don't have plenty of banks at your school, you need to try harder. Applying online is not hard enough. Talk to alumni, talk to people at the bank. If you have time to debate about target schools, you have time to network. Go out, get the job, and hopefully i'll see you working at the BB/MM/HF/PE/Bear Stearns Subprime CDO Group or whatever you want to be.

 

Harvard Penn Yale Columbia Princeton Cornell Dartmouth Brown Stanford MIT Duke NYU Georgetown Williams Amherst UChicago Northwestern Hopkins Michigan Berkeley Carnegie Mellon

I'm pretty sure that covers all the schools considered targets, some of which may even be semi-targets depending on the bank. All the ivies are considered top targets except for Brown. Region also plays a role - New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago are their own separate niches, and may favor schools in closer proximity to them.

 

Most BBs recruit at Rice and Univ. of Texas for their Houston offices (which typically just deal with oil and gas companies), and a few grads end up in NY also. I would call these schools semi-targets also.

 

FYI, at the BB bank I'm about to join we only have 6 targets for analysts:

Harvard Princeton NYU Georgetown Penn Duke

Different groups also have different relationships with schools, but those are the only across the board target schools set by recruiting.

 

True targets are HYPS

Additionally: Wharton Other Ivies G-Town MIT Northwestern/UChicago (mostly for Chicago) NYU Duke UVa Michigan Texas/Rice (mostly Houston) Amherst Williams Swarthmore Pomona/Claremont (for LA)

Not to say certain banks don't come to other places, but these are the schools that have basically every single bank come on campus for recruiting. Just go online to GS or ML or somewhere like that and see where their campus interview schedules are and that gives you a pretty strong gauge of the caliber of target schools. The ones that show up on 3-4 lists are at the very least a semi-target.

 

In terms of liberal arts colleges: (not so familiar with research universities, sorry)

Williams Amherst (and thus Smith/Mount Holyoke) Pomona (and thus Claremont McKenna) Wellesley Middlebury

Less so: Bowdoin Bryn Mawr Colgate

Where you rely on the alumni network: Wesleyan Vassar Swarthmore Hamilton Colby

 

Dude... Go to the school you want to. Be cognizant of how a school does in placing into a field you like. Don't just write off the whole college experience to go to some ultra-target school where you will never get to tailgate before a football game or get the opportunity to fly to a bowl game to watch your school.. Or go to March Madness... etc.

If I were going back and could redo everything.. Michigan, Notre Dame, UCLA, Berkeley, Stanford, and UVA would probs be on the top of my list because they will get you anywhere you want to go academically and are on every bank's target list, BUT they also are big schools and will give you the opportunity to actually enjoy colllege. Once you graduate and go into Finance (Assuming in 4 years that is still what you want) your life will be all work. Give yourself 4 years to live it up

 

I would like to send a cruise missile shaped like a giant cock straight up your ass for asking this question. Do a search...god knows the search function is 10x better.

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 

no worries.. BRING THE HEAT.

Talk about mistakes-- choosing the school I just graduated over some of the targets -- just so I could start out major in engineering and then switching to business.

 

and U. Michigan/UVA.... not including Ross and McIntire would be ridiculous.

‎"Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to become the means by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of other men. Blood, whips and guns or dollars."
 

Target schools vary a little because not all BBs will literally target the same lineup. Generally it's the Ivies + Stanford/Wharton and a few top-10 undergrad business programs, i.e. Stern/Ross/McIntire and also Duke.

There's also a lot of variation within each university, i.e. Stern > NYU, Wharton >>>> UPenn, Ross > UMich, etc.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

this is gona hit some nerves but why don't we rank the target schools in terms of overall competitiveness in BBs for FO positions... Based on what I've seen, this is how I would rank the schools 1. Harvard 2. Wharton 3. Princeton 4. Yale 5. Columbia 6. Stanford 7. Upenn 8. MIT/Caltech 9. Dartmouth 10. Stern 11. Cornell 12. Duke 13. Brown 14. UChicago 15. BC

 

1.Wharton 2. Harvard 3. Princeton 4. Yale ( good school, but it does not place as well, largely due to lack of interest I'm assuming, I would place it lower but its prestige carries it up) 5. Columbia 6. Stanford 7. Upenn 8. MIT/Caltech 9. Dartmouth

I would argue that for the top gigs in PE / HF / VC / S&T / top groups at BBs, Wharton is in a class of its own. At some top firms like BX RX etc Wharton out places Harvard 4 to 1.

For High frequency trading / algo trading it is Wharton (M&T) / Princeton / MIT / Harvard

For general IBD, Wharton places the most kids at almost every firm, followed closely by Harvard, then the rest of the big ivies. But this does not matter. If you are at a good school and have a good GPA and can demonstrate interest in the field, you will get your interview and then it is all about you, not your school. Are Wharton and Harvard a notch above Princeton and Yale? Yes. Does that matter ? No. It is as stupid as saying that H/S MBA are a notch above W MBA, in the end the differences are minuscule.

This has been debated since Jesus was born, let's move onto something else. Do a quick search buddy. My 2 cents.

 

Honestly, there are many other schools that could be considered targets to some extent. The following unmentioned schools are targeted, maybe not as heavily, and will not hinder you from pursuing IB:

UVA, Emory, Rice (energy), Berkley, UNC, Vandy, Ross, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, John Hopkins. There are plenty of other small schools that will present opportunities. IMO, target refers to a school that receives multiple OCI and has a large alumni presence on wallstreet. On campus recruiting is not always the best way to land interviews, unless you are a stand out candidate among your highly competitive peers. Going through the back door by alumni connections can be highly effective.

 

That's where the term 'semi-target' comes into play. If a few of the BB are on-campus, that mean you're a partial target. You don't have all the opportunities the targets do, but you definitely have OCR, strong alum representation, and solid recruiting opportunities.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

It looks like he was focusing mostly US schools or recruiting for US positions (Oxford and INSEAD notwithstanding) , explaining the absence of Canadian schools mentioned by posters above.

I too am surprised University of Chicago is not on the list.

 

Top 5 LACs should all be on there williams amherst swarthmore pomona middlebury

It's just that students in some schools are not as interested in I-B compared to those in other schools.

If you've been to most of these schools' recruiting events, you'd know all those BBs are there - how many people are interested? I don't know.

 

My sister goes to Tufts and is very much targeting IB. I think almost every bulge bracket firm recruits at Tufts and alumni at those firms put in a remarkable level of effort in recruiting--I've seen alums from Goldman, UBS, and others doing the actual recruiting on campus.

And to those saying Tufts doesn't have a business or finance degree, that's an absurd criterion. Harvard doesn't either. The Tufts economics department is massively popular and very strong (again, says my sister).

 

What do you mean, "Without further ado"? Was someone asking for this list? I don't understand what metrics are being used and how it's organized.

I also agree that WUSTL - Olin should be on there. We have OCR for pretty much everything.

 

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"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 

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