Investment Banking Target Schools (Using Data)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 มิ.ย. 2024
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Determining who the current investment banking target schools are using cold hard data. We look at which schools consistently get the most placements at the top investment banks in the U.S. We rank all of the schools based on their number of hires between 2014 - 2019 using LinkedIn data. Targets are schools that get recruited by the majority of top firms and have lots of alumni on Wall Street. Semi-targets have presence at just a few top firms and tend to be more concentrated in one geography / industry. You'll see that the top target schools send 20+ graduates into the top investment banks every year.
** Full Blog Post with Rankings: bit.ly/PF-TargetSchools
0:00 - What is a Target School?
1:23 - Target School Methodology
2:30 - Who are the Target Schools?
4:32 - Why is it So Hard to Become a Target School?
Peak Frameworks is a business career prep service started by Matt Ting and Patrick Fong, who have each spent several years working in investment banking and private equity in New York and Silicon Valley. Matt and Patrick met at Evercore, a top tier investment bank, and over the years have tutored and coached dozens of candidates to land their dream business job.
Matt Ting: / matthewting
Patrick Fong (HBS 2021): / patrick-fong-0b773041
#InvestmentBanking #Careers #Finance
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You need to be exceptional to get into those schools, so it's easier said than done. One strategy for those that want to get into high earning finance (IB, hedge funds, etc.) but don't have a 4.5 GPA is to 1. Go to a ranked school (top 50-100 is fine) in a big city that has a large finance industry (NYC, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco), then use their network to land an internship. 2. Go to a school that has a student investment fund or some applicable experience that you can reference to land that first job. Speaking as someone in the finance industry with hedge fund, IB, IR, and hiring experience.
What's your opinion on Sydney for an IB aspirant? The school would UNSW Business School.
Spot on! Would also add the schools that have a very qualitative IB training program with a strong track record, yet are easier to get in compared to target school, these are:
Indianan Kelley : IB workshop
Ohio State Fisher Futures
I have heard some of the schools with the so called 'student investment funds' are a farce or they are not so great. Can someone pls shine a spotlight on this, how do we evaluate the efficacy of these??
@@mayavik1034 Go to one where the fund competes or ranks on a national level (google Undergraduate Growth Portfolio Competition). However, most student-run investment funds will look attractive on a resume as they add another layer of competition, require an interview process, top grades, or unique skill. Even at a lower-ranked university like University of the Pacific (where I went) you had to have at least a 3.8 GPA and they only accepted 15 students. I ended landing a quant job at a hedge fund that was later acquired and became Blackrock Credit.
@@aryannahar Falls into the same pile, if you're a top student in the SIF program at Fordham, because of the proximity to Wall Street, you'll likely get job offers.
Going to a target school makes IB recruiting so much easier.
What was your experience? How was it easier?
Theodore Ma I went to a non-target, interned at a bulge bracket and now about to start full time at a mega fund in about two weeks.
🌟 The Investor Center - Learn Investing is going to uva getting into IB that much easier than a non target
Theodore Ma UVA has a great presence in investment banking. It may be the best public university for investment banking recruiting.
Theodore Ma you are better off at UVA than any other public university honestly.
Thank you for this new information. It definitely has shown me the schools to apply to.
Great info!
Could you make a separate video teaching us how you gathered all the relevant information so we could replicate this for countries outside of the US?
Thanks for the sweet info, I love the data driven approach! I’ll be attending USC as a Master’s in Finance student next year, do you have any data points or general thoughts on using an MSF program as a backdoor into an IB analyst position?
USC is solid. I don't have any direct data, but off-hand, I've generally found master's in finance programs to be pretty good at getting you looks. Employers will still look a lot at your undergrad, but I know several people who went from no IB experience to landing a top BB after doing a one year's masters. I would encourage you to reach out to alumni of your program so you know exactly what is possible.
Definitely makes sense to target west coast firms for you given USC's dominance out there.
Congratulations and good luck, where did you get your undergrad? and how much relevant work experience have you had(if any) before applying? I’m curious because I’m interested in a USC masters as well.
Good luck to the non-targets trying to get into investment banking. It will be hard but it’s possible.
Really enjoyed this video. Currently going through the recruiting process now from Penn State. We're certainly a semi target but our reputation has been driven by the Nittany Lion Fund, a student-run investment fund managing over $10 million from over 70 private investors, non of which is endowment money from our university.
That's a good point. I think a strong student investment club / fund is one of the most reliable ways that schools can improve their finance recruiting over time. It really motivates alumni to help students more.
What do you recommend for studying in college at penn state for these financial firms. I was seriously considering it.
Thanks for the thoughtful analysis, I'd love to see a similar analysis using data on MBA candidates. Thanks!
We'll add it to the list, thanks!
@@PeakFrameworks Hi! just subscribed today. I am currently evaluating pursing an MBA to transition to IB and am curious about this too. My top school (Rice University) does not appear on the current list but I believe it would be considered a target school if MBA data was evaluated.
Hi! I just found your videos today and they were amazing! Are you working in IB rn? I'd really like to be friends with you and have some individual talks
I really thinks it’s up to the individual. I work in HR and find that yes, the “name” school gets you an interview but hard work and focus gets you up the ladder. We hire associates from all schools as we do not know what each person offers. At our firm, most in upper management are not from these schools.
Wow interesting, what firm is that
@@chibratoons9290 i work for one of the big 5 consulting firms. I prefer not to be too specific as i directly work with recruiting.
Just subbed ❤️
Wow thank you for this good info bro
Thanks for good video. If I graduate just semi-target school, will it be an advantage to go to big IB that you are mentioned? And almost 60% of graduates get a job at big IB?
Hey Matt! Great content as always.
Im going to UT Austin for college and I'm going to be a Math major, I know you said that UT students mostly get recruited from mccombs but I actually am close with an uncle who was a former MD at a BB in New York so I think ill be fine. But will banks care if I'm a non-buissnes major and just care that i go to UT? and how is being a math major typically viewed on Wall Street?
Math is generally great, but you should make sure you're at least part of finance clubs so people know you're serious about it. I think you should be fine provided you get some club experience
Great video! Is Carnegie Mellon that far off from making the list? I thought that it was close to Vanderbilt but now see that I am entirely wrong.
CMU is a great overall school and has an amazing engineering program, but their presence in finance is still pretty weak. Our data says that they have ~20 hires at the top investment banks over the past 5 years, which makes them a non-target. That being said, the few CMU people I've met in finance are all very bright. MIT is a good comparison to CMU, they have really smart people who can get looks, but they don't have a ton of finance alumni.
bro if you go to cmu ur set dont worry. those kids just dont go for ib but kids ar cmu are incredible and everyone knows it at banks
GREAT VIDEO! Do you happen to have any information about MIT?
Solid school that will get you attention from employers. But most people from MIT aren't interested in banking so the numbers are overall pretty low. I wouldn't say they're a target, but they have enough cachet that you can still go get an IB job if you hustle.
Hi Matt! Thanks for the amazing videos, as always!
I’m an incoming freshman at the University of Texas at Austin hoping to get recruited into IB. However, I’m studying Economics at the College of Liberal Arts, as opposed to my peers who are studying Business, Finance, or Accounting at the McCombs School of Business. I’ve heard that UT Austin is not a target school for IB, with the exception of McCombs being a semi-target for regional banks, and the Business Honors Program being the only *real* target that has students in the big bulge bracket banks and other elite boutiques.
In the data presented in this video, UT Austin ranks 13th, but I’m just curious if those stats are almost entirely comprised of students in the Business Honors Program.
Additionally, would you recommend me to treat myself as a student who is at a a target, semi-target, or non-target, with my background in the context of my university? (My goal is to transfer or double major in the McCombs school later on, and also to apply for the Business Honors Program (though I would say that admission for me is almost impossible, given that I am not even a McCombs student just yet)).
Thanks for all your help! Love the content at Peak Frameworks!
I didn't go to UT so it's really hard for me to give super specific guidance. But yes, pretty much everyone I met from UT Austin went to McCombs, though I don't have an opinion on the Business Honors program. I was in New York and I actually met a ton of people from McCombs and they were all quite bright and motivated. You're better served asking alumni from your school on the specific paths that have the highest expected value.
IMO you should probably try to transfer into McCombs. Then I would think like a semi-target (mostly Houston offers but New York highly possible).
I see. Thank you so much for the reply!
Is there a specific major that you would recommend for a UT Austin McCombs -> NYC BB IB recruitment? I was thinking of double majoring in Finance with my current Economics major. Additionally, would a double major in those two fields even help when I’m applying for jobs/internships/getting recruited, or is it more of something that just helps me stand out?
@@JKROM5673 Hi! McCombs Alum here, but not IB so I’ll be able to give you some insight into my experience.
I was also in the same position as you - went into UT as an economics major but transferred into Mccombs in 2017. I will say it is hard (and have become harder now I believe), but it is so worth the time and effort. McCombs opens up much more opportunities for students that want to get into literally any industry. Regarding IB specifically, all the folks I know are from McCombs (I’d say 50/50 mix between BHP and traditional) with the exception of 1 who graduated economics. So it’s definitely possible to get IB with economics, but much more possible with a McCombs credential.
Your dual major pick is very standard for people that go into corp finance and IB, but what would make you stand out I believe is to pick a major outside of the traditional (for example, Finance paired with Sociology or maybe Mathematics). This allows you to study something you actually want to study versus studying something that would prepare you well to go into the traditional careers for McCombs grad. To be quite honest, major literally does not matter hahahah, and I believe it’s mostly about how you network your way into whatever job you want.
As far as classes, I honestly took classes I knew would be easy and would boost my GPA above the average for my year of transfer (again, I think the average has gotten consistently higher over the years). I believe it’s about having a planned-out strategy to get into McCombs in regards to your classes, but also being involved in business-relatives extracurriculars that you can talk about in your transfer essay.
Best of luck!
Do you have any data on target MBA programs for IB associates? I know schools like Georgetown and Notre Dame place well for analyst level positions, but from what I've seen at the MBA level they aren't even close to being considered targets.
That's a great question! We'll take a look at the data and try to put that list together for a future video. From my own experience, I think Georgetown is honestly still decent for MBA associates but Notre Dame is not nearly as good as they are at the analyst level.
I appreciate the response. I’ll keep an eye out for that video!
Do you know how far different the data for Queen's University is from Western University? They're both top rival schools in Canada.
Would you say that the schools won't really change for accounting or consulting?
I'm a freshman at Rutgers in finance aiming to hopefully get into IB. I would've assumed they'd be on the list or at least on par with a school like Penn State due to the close proximity to NYC. Do you have any insight as to how Rutgers Business School stacks up against the rest as well as any general thoughts or tips?
They're OK, Rutgers is kind of like a weak semi-target. They had ~25 people into top IBs over the same time frame. Just check the clubs with the best track record and join them.
Very informative. Are those stats of MBA programs? Or undergrad?
Undergrad in US / Canada.
Awesome! Can you do a video on MBA programs
Can you please consider doing this same video for private equity?
Yup, just posted this! th-cam.com/video/4qndTjq6oAU/w-d-xo.html
What are your thoughts on Northwestern(semi target)? I know that it’s pretty good for consulting but don’t know much in relation to IB.
I really like Northwestern, everyone I meet from there is smart and cool. Seems like a school with good placement and good culture. I think they still place pretty well for IB.
Hi thanks for the insightful video. I'm a rising freshman going to the University of Chicago and I was wondering if you noticed any change in trend after 2018. In 2018 UChicago introduced the new Business Econ major which was meant to help students like me be more competitive with traditional B-School students. Also, I turned down Ross for Uchicago because I felt the Business Econ major taught by professors from the highly ranked Booth school of business would be better than me leaving Chicago just for me to want to come back and try and work here. Thanks
Nope, I didn't notice anything after 2018. Both UChicago and Ross are pretty solid for IB. Honestly I think Ross places more, but if you got into both, you should be smart enough to break in.
What is Umich LSA considered?
is nyu Econ(CAS not Stern) better than USC Marshall?
Hey there!
Which will be easier to get into in IB between Columbia’s financial economics and UVA’s BS in commerce in companies like GS or JPM?
I got into both Columbia and UVA.
Congrats! You can't really go wrong. Both are great schools. UVA has an awesome hedge fund program. I think Columbia is marginally better, but you should pick the school that you have a stronger connection to.
I can't seem to find any information on the website on the licensing on the content, most specifically the excel snapshot used in the article and video. For non-commerical/profit purposes, can I use the information?
Sure, just credit Peak Frameworks and tell your friends about us!
Hello,if I will do masters degree at strong unuversity will recruiter look at the fact that my bachelor school is weak(im studying at small poor country)
Thanks for the video. I am going into FSU this year as a freshman and hope to get into investment banking. Apparently my school is ranked #17 in the nation for "Accounting and Finance" according to the Niche website. Could you tell me how many total hires my school has? Also, what could I do to increase my chances of being hired by a large company?
FSU has just 2 people hired into these top investment banks over the past few years. Aside from transferring, your best bet is to start learning finance technicals now and make sure you have a decent freshman / sophomore internship. Aggressively network with your alumni and cast your wide net enough so that you're speaking with lots of boutiques.
I'm not sure which ranking you're referring to, so can't comment.
I think you need to take into consideration the size of school as well. Looking at 2:30, I think it is questionable to compare hiring 113 from UC Berkeley with 32k undergrads and 46 from Middlebury with 2.5k students. Considering the size of school, Middlebury seems much more of a target than UC Berkeley even though Berkeley is marked as "Target" and Middlebury a "Semi-Target" since I am much more likely to land a job in IB as a student at Middlebury than at Berkeley.
Agree that it's an imperfect approach, but I think you start to introduce a lot of personal bias when you try to select for different factors, e.g. is it fair to include all 32k comes UC Berkeley when only a couple of faculties might recruit for IB? Which degrees can you include vs. not? When you try to do that for every school, it gets messy and less of a clear data-driven approach IMO.
I also think that size of program / alumni base is helpful for recruiting. It means there is more people to network with and it creates a higher expected value for firms when they do campus visits.
Plus, for UC Berkeley specifically, I would 100% say they're a target for west coast firms. They probably have the best overall placement into all SF IB offices. I can't think of a firm on the east coast that targets Middlebury as their #1 school.
Berkeley is a target, the class size is deceiving. You must also recognize that berkeley sends hundreds of people to google and Facebook as software engineers, highly coveted jobs that in many cases pay more than IB right out of college, so the percentage of people who are interested in IB is less. Furthermore, Stanford according to this video is classified as a semi-target despite being one of the best schools in the nation, simply because fewer Stanford students are into IB and more into tech/VC. I'm a student at berkeley and can tell you that if you do the right things, its certainly a target. Tons of placements into top companies and the TMT groups of those companies.
This would help but I’m from the uk , what about British universities
What do you think about UVA? I heard it’s at least a decent presence but what was your experience? I think they have been growing and getting more into investment banking in the past couple of years.
In my opinion, UVA is easily one of the best schools for finance recruiting in the country. Consistently places across all top investment banks and the people I've met from UVA have mostly been very bright. The school also has amazing hedge fund focused classes, which is extremely helpful when it comes to recruiting. Perhaps the school with the best hedge fund prep outside of Penn.
That being said, from an overall career perspective, I'd still take any Ivy league over UVA.
Hi nice video ! Could you do the same thing for EU target school ?
Your videos are great ! 👌
Thanks! Unfortunately due to GDPR rules we can't scrape EU data properly and so I won't be able to.
great video! What are your thoughts on University of Rochester Simon Business School's one year MSF program for Corporate Banking at the top firms?
I've never heard of this program.
Which one out of UNC-Chapel Hill, Michigan, and UVA do you recommend for IB/Consulting recruiting?
Michigan for IB, UVA for consulting and hedge funds. They're honestly all good schools in a similar tier though, so if you have a strong affinity for any of them, just go with your gut.
What about Williams and Amherst
Great video! How does Lehigh stack up? I know it sends a decent amount of kids to Citi but not sure how it does overall. Thanks.
Lehigh is alright, they've had 18 hires over this time frame. I still wouldn't consider them a semi-target, but presumably if you're a top student from there, you can still land a banking role. You're right in that they send the most to Citi.
@@PeakFrameworks Thanks so much for the reply and I love your content on here and on r/financialcareers
How good is MBA from UCLA to break into investment banking?
What course they target?
Nice video, but do you have any info on europeen target business schools?
Unfortunately not, not my area of expertise
It looks UCB sends a disproportionate amount of people to GS. Do you you think me majoring in Econ will still make me competitive for analyst positions? I have a weird track.I got into Berkeley straight out of high school but only attended my first year. ended up working at JPM and WF number of years and got my series 7,6,63 but now I’m enrolled again finishing up my bachelors
If you did JPM corporate I think you should easily be able to get analyst positions out of college?
Hi, what about Georgia Institute of Technology Scheller College of Business
Non target. Just one to three people per year.
Hello sir I am currently enrolled at UTSA and want to get into investment banking, however if I am not in a target school or semi does that mean it’s impossible to get a job in investment banking? Also why are analysts life cycle so short? do they move on to higher jobs?
UTSA is definitely a non-target, so you'd have the best odds if you transferred or if you played the long game and lateraled to different jobs after graduation. It's definitely not impossible to get an investment banking job, but you'd have to do extraordinary things like get good internship experience and be a leader in finance clubs. Yes, most analysts will leave after 2-3 years so they can go to the buy side (e.g. recruit for private equity).
Is Indiana kelley still considered a semi target today?
Yes, I would say so. I don't know a ton of people from Kelley but it places empirically very well.
Hi is Brigham young considered a semi-target school, or well known in IB or consulting?
I would consider BYU a semi-target, yes. Decent for IB, not sure on consulting.
Is umichigan Ross the good one, or umichigan Ann Arbor? Or are they both good
Ross is the good one. Still very possible to break into finance outside of Ross though.
Baruch deserves to be on that list!!
They're very close to making the list! They have strong years but I don't think they have the consistency.
I'm currently a rising freshman as a direct admit to the Kelley school of business. Unfortunately I got denied from Penn and Cornell. Should I try to transfer to the likes of Notre Dame or NYU in my sophomore year if Im targeting to work at a EB instead of a BB.
I might be in the same boat as well. Tell me what you do. Thanks.
Notre Dame I don't think it's worth it. NYU maybe. Transferring would increase your chances, but I don't think it's necessary for you to get a good spot. Kelley still has good placement and is one of the best semi-targets. They have strong traction with Lazard and Moelis, which are great EBs.
I transferred from Kelley to Cornell.
@@putnaik9144 hey I know im 3 years late but how was your experience transferring from Kelley to Cornell? Did you get better recruiting for IB? And what year did you transfer?
@@eshanb1295 hey man. I graduated this past may. It was honestly amazing. I ended up changing majors and doing trading but it was well worth it.
Great job. Are these data from people who were recruited from undergrad or after graduate programs. Essentially are these schools also target schools for graduate programs?
This is only for people recruited out of undergraduate programs. A graduate program list would look different (and is something we are working on!)
Peak Frameworks thanks for the reply’
Hi! I am a high school senior very interested in IB but I am from Las Cruces, NM. I don't know anyone who has every gone into IB or something similar. Would you suggest applying to almost all target universities or mixing with semi-target? I got a 34 on my ACT and have a 4.0 GPA. I also have won some state titles in chess.
Yes I would apply to both targets and semi-targets. Getting into the big targets is generally pretty tough regardless of stats.
I think you are in very good shape to get into a target school Sophia. Good luck!
Do you need a bachelor's or master's degree from this universities?
Just out of curiosity, could you tell me if there are any Irish universities on this list?
North American only, so unfortunately not.
A bit out of the topic (location wise) question. Whats your opinion on Sydney for an IB aspirant, I have an offer from UNSW
It's not great on a global scale, but it's still going to be better than a lot of other financial markets. I believe most BBs have small offices and Macquarie is a notable employer there. I've met a few Australian / UNSW people in New York, but they're not very well represented. I think the play would be to do BB in Australia then lateral.
@@PeakFrameworks Yeah, I mean, I plan for long term if I go there. So a global picture is not a big factor for me. I plan for Australia due to following reasons:-
1. A comparitively liberal immigration policy
2. Admission into a good business school in a relevant city related to the industry of interest
3. Climate (important for me due to health reasons)
4. On top of that, the course is extremely customizable, helps with my CFA L2 & also gives me an advisory license from ASE (the basic one, as there are levels)
Sorry for the long read, would love to have your opinion on my approach. Is Sydney a wrong foot forward?
Can I find the raw data anywhere?
What do you think about USC and its potential? Is the recruiting only limit to west coast? How would you compare Vanderbilt and USC? Thanks a lot for this data and analysis!!
Both are great overall schools and you should feel good about your chances at either. For banking, Vanderbilt is overall better and gets significantly more placements in New York.
USC has a dominant position and reputation on the west coast, but you have to hustle / network a bit more to place in New York. Still definitely possible though.
What course is better to take for investment banking; finance or economics?
School matters a lot more. Then it really depends. Look at the history of graduates to see which places better. There are economics programs at Ivy leagues that are going to be close to the best.
But if a school offers both a pure finance / business program and economics, finance tends to be better (e.g. Wharton, Stern, Ivey off the top of my head).
Hey Matt, Is Bocconi a target school for the EMEA region?
I unfortunately don't know. I've seen a fair amount of Bocconi people in the industry, but don't have the actual data.
What if I want to transfer to the target schools? Would it be better for me to 1) maybe go to a community college to save money for tuition or 2) try to get into semi target schools / ranked school in a big city that has a large finance industry and maybe learn the basics, then transfer?
Honestly I'm an international student that has a low gpa so I can't get into Upenn,, : ( But I'm very much interersted in working for investment banks like you mentioned in the H1B visas
I wouldn't go to community college if your ultimate goal is finance. I would focus on semi target schools / ranked city in big school. You can definitely break in from semi targets.
Would be interesting to normalise by number of students at each school.
super late but i was wondering the same thing. especially interested in how UT austin and IU might move after doing so, with then being some of the largest university in the USA and all
How well does UNC typically place? Most likely will attend especially since it’s in state.
They're on the list in the video, ~25th best school based on pure numbers, probably like 10-15 people per year into top banks.
UNC is pretty strong to then get to Bank of America
Just wanted to ask if you knew anything about Fordham's placement rate, thanks!
It's a fair non-target. Totally possible to get into IB, but it's like 4 or 5 students per year at top firms. Lots of placement into JPM and Bank of America.
@@PeakFrameworks Got it, thanks!
@@PeakFrameworks Would you have any recommendations for what to do? I've been following your advice for freshmen - networking with seniors who had return offers/internships from PE firms like Ares or BBs, reading Term Sheet/WSJ, starting on learning technicals and trying to find internships.
Only US !? What about HEC Paris or INSEAD Paris/Singapore or London Business School or IE in Madrid - ? These are all in the top ten globally and all the private equity big hitters recruit from there .....? ? Would be interesting to see a global video rather than just US
It's a lot harder to do Europe because we scrape LinkedIn and the GDPR compliance rules prevent us from getting really accurate data over there. We'll keep this in mind though!
How about Coventry University inUk
Love the content, but I ain't so sure Stanford/Brown are simply semi-targets...
They are certainly traditionally prestigious and great schools to attend, but I think most people overestimate their raw presence in IB. I saw very few people from Stanford / Brown undergrad while I was in NY. There's more Stanford people in SF IB, but that's a relatively smaller city. These schools still do well for buyside recruiting, but they don't have the sheer numbers to be highly represented on this list.
Queen’s Commerce or Western Ivey?
We have a Canadian targets video coming out soon! I think Ivey is the clear choice for investment banking and it's the only Canadian school that we consider a global semi-target. Ivey dominates Canadian recruiting and has strong traction with several U.S. firms. But Queen's is still great and is the #2 option in Canada for investment banking.
How important is GPA (if you’re are studying at an IVY league)?
Not super important, just be above 3.5 and you'll probably get some interviews. 3.7 is the cutoff for most firms.
@@PeakFrameworks oh okay. Well, 3.5 shouldn’t be a big problem I guess. Also, I heard the major is not important at all which I find kinda weird.
What about uk?
Just got into Penn CAS from a semi target. Would this significantly increase my odds despite it not being Wharton?
Yes, I would say so. All colleges from Penn do well. It depends a bit on which semi target you're at, but I would recommend switching.
@mariogotze6588 did you end up transferring? and if you did how did it go at Penn?
I really wouldn't group the entire bottom half as "semi-targets" since, while I think that this data is great, it doesn't necessarily tell the whole story. For example, realistically, I don't think anyone would consider schools like Stanford and Brown to be "semi-targets" in any capacity. The reason why a school like Stanford doesn't send as many kids into IB as say, a school like NYU is not because of the lack of opportunity, but rather because of the lack of interest. Most of the people who apply to schools like Stanford in the first place are far more interested in the tech space(proximity to Silicon Valley) than IB. Likewise, Brown attracts many creative liberal arts type students who aren't into banking, However, I actually think this is actually an advantage since there's maybe only around ~50-60 kids a year at Stanford or Brown who are actually interested in IB and virtually all of them get offers. This is compared to the undergrad business schools like NYU, Wharton, and Ross where literally everyone wants to do IB(100+ people a year) and thus creates a somewhat skewed data set.
Source: I go to one of the top three target schools listed in the video and one of my siblings goes to Stanford
Yeah, there's definitely a limitation to looking at the raw numbers, but I don't think any one person can effectively re-order this list without introducing a ton of personal bias. No single person is going to have a clear understanding of what it's like to recruit at all schools. I also think sheer # is helpful as a candidate because it means you have more people in the industry you can network with.
This list is also an investment banking target school list, definitely not an "overall quality of school" list. It's also not a buyside list. I agree that traditionally prestigious schools recruit for the buyside more easily.
All that being said, I still think people overrate those traditionally prestigious schools for banking. Having lots of smart kids by itself doesn't mean a firm will automatically target a school. For reasons you listed, it can be frustrating if you're a lower tier BB, go to a top school and no one is taking your offers. The expected value of targeting a school like say NYU can be a lot higher, especially when you consider the fact that these less prestigious schools are more likely to stay on as associates, etc.
What’s ur job now?
Are the top 5 LAC colleges target schools though the size of the school is very small?
Really depends on the college. Middlebury, Amherst and Williams all do well and get more finance jobs per capita than other semi targets. But some of the other liberal arts colleges place very few into finance.
is this for those who are getting a BS degree in something like accounting or is this Post undergrad?
Yes, this is for bachelor degrees.
How is Williams college for IB, PE, and HF?
Solid school for IB, obviously a smaller place so doesn't do quite as well on these kinds of lists. Good on a per capita level. I've never met anyone in PE / HF from Williams, but I'm sure they're out there. Once you're in IB, school matters a bit less anyways
How about University Of Illinois(UIUC)?
Solid, just barely misses this list. Had about mid 30's people over the past 6 years. Tend to place a lot into Chicago obviously.
@@PeakFrameworks Hey there! It is really nice of you to present all this data. Though, I am curious to see the numbers for schools that might have barely missed the list. Do you think you could list the numbers for Baruch, Rutgers, Florida, UGA, UIUC, Texas A&M, and Northeastern according to your database? Or at least maybe provide their ranks in order of placement?
Hello there,
I'm an international student from Pakistan, currently a senior in high school, plan on working in buy-side. For early decision, deciding between Washington and Lee, Davidson, and Grinnell College. A basic LinkedIn revealed a dearth Grinnell alum on Wall Street, narrowing the choice between Davidson and W&L. Davidson did well with regional placement in the south but wasn't as strong in NYC. Is there any resource I can use to confirm my "research" and look at LAC target/semi-target schools by gauging recruitment per capita(since most lacs don't have students interested in finance)? On Wall Street Oasis, I consistently only found posts about Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore.
Based on the database we scraped, W&L is the clear winner. Washington and Lee had 24 placements, Davidson had 3, Grinnell had 0. Good luck deciding!
@@PeakFrameworks
Thanks ❤
Please can you make a similar video for Europe? it would be great
I can try to - I never worked in Europe so I'm a little more hesitant to speak about European data.
@@PeakFrameworks Would love to see one for europe
So if attend the target school in that state, I’m going to get hired in that state ? Not in a different state of my liking
There might be some influence, but at the top target schools it doesn't matter really. It matters more at the semi-targets like Rice or UCLA.
is uga considered semi target or non target?
I would say non-target
Hello, I am a 16 years old student from italy, I am planning on becomming an investment banker, and have been reading books on investments for a lot of time now.
I would like to come to the united states and go to a college where I can get my IB skills at a high level, the problem is that my family can't afford spending a lot of money, how can I still get my dream job?
I think you either need to rely on scholarships so studying in the U.S. is tolerable or start in Italy / Europe and then move later in life.
No liberal arts colleges? I thought they placed well
Can I become an investment banker if I major in finance from Zicklin school of business?
Yes I think so. Not super easy but a lot of people come from Baruch / Zicklin.
@@PeakFrameworks To become an investment banker which school will be a better option between McIntire school of Commerce at UVA or Zicklin school at Baruch?
I am a resident if NY.
100% UVA
Hi, how is The Ohio State University for IB?
Quite poor, there's only been 1 placement per our database over the last few years.
@@PeakFrameworks Thank you for the response!
how is rice for ib/cosulting/pe
Seems pretty good for IB and consulting, but haven't seen any people go straight to PE personally.
Penn State is not a semi target school
Byu has a high acceptance rate, and are very friendly with the scholarships.
BYU low key an amazing place to go to school for finance. I think it's probably the cheapest path to an IB job.
What do you think about MIT?
Great school, not a huge banking and PE presence though. Lots of quants and people in pure tech. I think if you want to do IB it's still very possible from MIT, but you'll have to do a lot of the legwork of networking yourself.
To this day, do you think BYU is still worth it for IB?
I would say so, BYU crushes it still. It does seem like a very different university experience though.
@@PeakFrameworks Sorry for the late reply as I’m not on TH-cam alot, But its worth is questionable as I’ve heard most end up in back offices such as GS salt lake city. Even if it’s true, does that put you at a disadvantage in terms of exits?
I go to Princeton (unfortunately disappointed we were only 10th on the list) and was wondering if these banks have a GPA cutoff for these target schools. Is the recruiting process holistic like college admissions, mostly gpa based, or mostly based on networking? Thanks a lot for making this superb vid!
Princeton is a fantastic school and one of the best when it comes to pure expected value of breaking into investment banking. Their advantage becomes more evident during buyside recruiting. On a list like this, they'll be under-represented due to school size (and a lot of Princeton people aren't wholly focused on banking).
I would say prior work experience > networking > GPA coming from Princeton. GPA needs to be excellent if you come from less of a target. If you can get anything finance related as a freshman or sophomore internship, you should be in good shape to land IB for your junior year.
What should I do if I live in Canada, but want to work an IB job in the US
Go to Ivey, Queen's, McGill or UBC PMF
@@PeakFrameworks I was planning on attending Rotman, but are these schools better for IB jobs
These schools are significantly better, especially at the undergrad level
@@PeakFrameworks Would going to one of the target or even semi target schools in the US be an easier path into IB than starting my undergrad in Canada and hopefully completing my MBA at an Ivy League school
Can you do UK ?
I've never worked in the UK and the GDPR rules in Europe prevent me from accurately scraping LinkedIn, so it'd be hard. It's on my list though!
A great step to take is to make a list of the schools you will be applying for admission to. more details click here www.howtocrazy.com/a-guide-to-get-into-graduate-school/
How can a mechanical engineer graduate with a startup experience become an IB please help
Do you have a finance degree? What kind of startup experience? Geography? I would guess you need to get your MBA or a master's program.
@@PeakFrameworks i dont have a finance degree....i am a co founder of a mechatronics based startup company in india..
I think Goldman Sachs also hires engineers but not for IB positions. But if you start at Goldman Sachs as an engineer and later get an MBA maybe you have some chances
@@t-bone9239 thanks bro...hope i will somehow get to goldmansachs...
Thoughts on Bowdoin?
No real opinion, overall good school but I don't know anyone personally who's in finance from Bowdoin. I think some of the other NESCACs are better
@@PeakFrameworks Thank you!
I am surprised you don't have Baruch College, well I am not an expert on this either.
Baruch is OK but still definitively non-target in my view. They have about half as many placements as the lowest person on this table.
The fact that there is only 1 NESCAC school on this list leads me to believe it is biased towards larger schools... Can't tell me that going to Penn State gives you a higher chance of being recruited over the top liberal arts schools in the country.
The results favor larger schools because the data is sorted purely by number of placements. Bigger schools will do better on this metric all else being equal. But I think there is a discrete advantage for bigger schools - more alumni, more likely to be targeted by firms, more collaborative peers going for the same goal.
The list is designed this way because it becomes really difficult to try to account for individual school size. You would have to account for different programs, faculties, etc. and I think you then introduce a lot of personal bias.
It's my opinion that only some NESCAC schools are good. Middlebury, Amherst, and Williams are pretty good and all around 30-40 hires, but it drops off hard thereafter.
How is Texas A&M for IB?
Not bad, but not great. They had 20 hires from this database, so maybe 4 or 5 people per year, which would make them a weak semi-target.
@@PeakFrameworks good enough for me. Just means I’m gonna be working my ass off
That's the mentality you should have, good luck!
What about WashU Olin?
Solid, but still misses this list. High 20 number of placements based on this data / time frame, so you have to be a top 5 or so candidate from your school.