The most underrated business school
What is the most underrated college (undergrad or masters) to attend to get into IB? The college may be insulted, not well regarded, or may not be known, but is actually a great school for Wall Street or other business placement.
Virginia
You might have to Google the meaning of underrated my man.
bump
Why did I get so much MS lol? A lot of people I talked to don't know UVA is a good school for finance.
Because our school McIntire is def not underrated in the US. Although our international brand name needs a lot more work.
UMich - relatively easy to get, but good placements.
HAIL SATAN
Most of the Big Ten schools are solid options for job placement.
.
I am 100% biased. USC
I go to UNC. Recruiting here is solid. It's not UVA or UMich, but still very solid. I don't really come on this site much so I'm not sure how much attention it gets here.
I don't know much about the difference in recruiting at Ross vs UMich LSA, but from what I've read from here and the people I met during superdays, at UVA almost all of the recruiting is in the comm school. Correct me if I am wrong.
So while UVA gets better recruiting at most banks than UNC's B School, I think UNC A&S may beat UVA A&S. Most banks here don't care much about being in the B School anymore. I wrote a long comment on a post asking about UNC a while ago. I went in detail about all the banks and claimed that you really had to be in the B School, but after looking into it a lot more since then, I don't think being in it matters that much anymore. The resume drops here aren't exclusive to it and they don't separate into piles based off of it.
Edit: If you're going to shit, I'd appreciate a response. Like I said, correct me if I'm wrong.
"at UVA almost all of the recruiting is in the comm school" source?
I could be wrong. Thats just what I've generally seen around this website. Everyone I've met from UVA (only like 10 people) were all comm.
You are 100% wrong. Most of the recruiting happens before anyone is even in Comm...
Aight if you say so.
you're right but be careful, lots of salty uva kids on this site who were too dumb to get into mcintire.
Please stop spreading false information. I am a current Comm student. Yes, maybe there is a difference if you're applying as a 4th year for full-time, but the majority of internship recruiting is for that summer going into 4th year, and all of that primarily takes place in 2nd year spring/summer.
No one has taken a single Comm class at that point because it starts in the Fall of 3rd year.
When I was networking/interviewing for 15+ firms that 2nd year Spring, I was only asked if I was accepted to McIntire once (and it was on a networking call). I know multiple Comm rejects that were able to get BB/EB internships.
The real reason it seems like Comm students have an advantage is the self-selection bias. Generally, the kids that aren't Comm, but are interested in IB, didn't have the GPA/Extracurriculars to get into Comm-- therefore they generally don't have the GPA/Extracurriculars get the top jobs either (which makes sense).
Old UVA heads would disagree with my comment, but they are wrong. As long as the recruiting timeline stays this early, it will continue to devalue the Commerce distinction. When they were in school, it might have been the case, but in the last ~5 years it has changed.
Faber College
who
Why? All the others that people have said I have heard of and actually have solid reputations. What makes Faber underrated?
Never mind
Hahaha Faber is a fictional college from the movie Animal House
Sophomore dies in kiln explosion? I just talked to her last week...she was going to make a pot for me!
"Knowledge is good"
Thanks for repping
Indiana is also one of the most underrated schools because of its overall rep and the stigma associated with its low rank - obviously its not your top state school (compared to the likes of UT, UMich, UVA, UNC, etc..) but the Kelley School Workshops place very well and if you're a driven and competitive student, you can land IB roles at respectable firms
I agree. The sucky thing is though getting into Indiana does not mean you get into Kelley, they have their own little admissions process. Furthermore, even this is not enough. You then have to get into the Investment Banking Workshop which I hear is very competitive.
As a Kelley and IB Workshop grad (who actually transferred there from another school 3rd year), I can reassure you that getting into Kelley shouldn't be overwhelmingly difficult as long as you are a driven person and can do well academically. Getting a top grade in the introductory accounting course should be enough to help you nail the Kelley admission.
It's tough to get into the IB Workshop at IU without political connections. Some of the people in there are sons, daughters, or relatives of prominent business leaders or politicians. Being a female or other underrepresented demographic group could probably increase your odds as well.
But... the IB Workshop doesn't really mean anything other than you get access to a special class that sort of gives you training on the interview process for getting an IB job. It also gets you some visibility among the school staff, which might get you a few leads. However, nothing will preclude you from interviewing at all the banks and doing the necessary networking to get your foot in the door. You can acquire all the knowledge through other means. At the end of the day the job search comes down to who you get to know in the real world, and personality fit.
Another option worth considering at IU is the economics or math major, for which you don't need admission into the Kelley business school. That can also open up the door to a finance career and more. You can still take business classes as electives.
Definitely Kelley, Chicago banks pull a lot of grads from there.
Nowadays, most Kelley grads go to New York, not Chicago for IB
every kid I ever met who went to Indiana, biz undergrad or not, was a fucking dunce. Literally it is a pool of mediocrity
Being an intern in S&T has probably brought you into contact with so many IU alum hasn't it?!?! Someone sounds salty an IU Kelley student took their job
Thinking about doing an online here.
HBS is actually pretty good. I always struggled with the fact that I didn't get into Wharton but it turned out HBS is solid for recruiting.
I'll never understand what compels people to write such strange comments on the internet anonymously.
Jokes
SMU. Class of 2021 is sending 56 kids to IB this year. Granted, a good amount will be in Houston, a sizable amount are going to NY.
Isn't that number the product of alternative asset program?
Not an SMU grad, work with a few alumni and have buddies there. I would imagine that the majority of them are the product of ALTS.
There is a 0% chance they have that many kids going into front office IB
Equities in Houston
Seconding that this is bullshit. SMU placement outside of ALTS is weak.
The ALTS program is around 50 and probably claims to place into “analyst programs at banks” but not all FO IB roles. Go look at the placement list.
This is false. Bottom 1/3 of alts always places poorly (F500, boutique IB, random jobs) but at least 35 of alt and a handful every year outside of the program have also gone to to BB/EB IB in last 3 years. And alts is not hard to get into if you have IB grades, unlike Kelley. Not bad for a pretty small finance graduating class.
Source: SMU grad on a BB recruiting team
WSO should have a rule against quoting career office numbers for IB. Always the most bogus shit ever. You could be a teller at Chase and they'd bucket it under IB.
Nothing against Southern Millionaires University which in my experience, does place well in Texas. But (i) as said I don't trust official stats and (ii) I wonder how many of those kids leveraged daddy's rolodex.
SMU is appropriately non-rated. Fixed it for you
Rutgers places at many banks. Some of my dipshit friends there do well. Baruch in NYC places too but I’m not sure how much of that is nepotism.
Bump
Are all the semi/non-targets just posting their own schools lmao
I might get shit on, but hear me out - Dartmouth (all majors), Cornell (non-business majors, their business program isn’t underrated), and Stern (a little underrated because placement is just that solid).
The three above place as well as any other school and have a fat alumni base across all of Wall Street. If you can get into a school like Mich, UVA, etc., I think you’d be better off throwing an early decision app to the above three. It’s much easier to get into Dartmouth, Cornell, or Stern than the upper/middle Ivies, but the recruitment is almost the same.
This doesn’t apply if you’re a rockstar and can get into a Harvard/Wharton level school with ease.
The only reason you would get shit is because you named schools that are not really that underrated.
Maybe Stern, but Dartmouth dropped to the 7s in acceptance rate and Cornell should be around 8 or 9% next year...I don’t think it’ll be easy at all, probably harder and harder
I very much agree with what he's saying. If you apply ED, I'm pretty sure both schools have high teens to low twenty percent acceptance rates. Those are significantly better odds than getting into a school like say Yale, Columbia, or UChicago, but the recruiting is essentially all but equal.
I mean Stern has a 6% acceptance rate.
UT Austin
Finally someone who knows what underrated means.
UT and UIUC are definitely the 2 most underrated schools for finance.
explanation for UIUC? Not disagreeing, just curious.
explanation for UIUC? Not disagreeing, just curious.
Solid answer, not much talk about it on here but nearly 2% of 2017 IB placements are from UT (#7 out of all schools) McCombs has extremely helpful programs to place kids.
Probably Rutgers, I have a few friends who are seniors there and the school has started pumping a lot of people into wall street as of late. So in terms of underrated that's one of my picks as you normally just hear that Rutgers is shit.
BYU, those damn Mormons are everywhere lol
Even the smaller BYU’s, BYUI Has even sent students to Wall Street
Can confirm. I’m a current BYU student in Utah and we send 30-40 people to IB each year, with only 50ish students trying to recruit; a majority of the students who place go to great shops like Goldman, BofA, CS, Lazard, and Evercore. I’d argue that anyone who wants to get into banking at BYU will as long as they get decent grades, go to the IB club, and recruit systematically. I’d also argue that we’re slowly becoming a target, especially for the west coast.
I met a guy at NYU Stern when networking a few months back and he mentioned that because of the sheer number of people trying to get into IB that they don’t always get great networking opportunities; every OCR event has 30+ people swarming a single banker. We typically have 4-5 people talking to each banker at events. They definitely had way more banks visiting than us though, so it’s all a trade-off.
This is an interesting read. UIUC and USC surprised me. The rest did not.
USC is full of rich kids, who are more likely to get richer later in life compared to the kids at harvard on financial aid.
While the rich kid cliche is definitely true, there are still many many people that are not rich by any means. USC wasn't my first choice because of the lack of high finance placements. However, I was surprised to find out that there's an insane amount of students getting offers (albeit on the west coast mostly) for Consulting, IB, PE, ER and so on.
Would Carnegie Mellon fit in this category?
Came here to find my school and realized I’m definitely at a non-target
Baruch College NYC
They have the top quant program (MFE). It’s also one of the cheapest too. Very tough to get into
UGA.
If you're from Canada, then Ryerson University.
(only Canadians will get this one)
+1 Overall Rye high has some smart kids in the eng and cs programs but the a&f kids lack polish and have a massive chip on their shoulder. Banking in Canada is literally Queens commerce, Ivey, Mcgill HIT or bust due to the limited amount of firms and a large amount of inequality between the main 2 and the rest with very little care for non targets although some do break in. With that said fuck Queens our hoco is better, London>>Jane and Finch >>> Kingston and we can place into the states while you guys have to take "networking" trips to nyc to get some credibility.
I agree with you for the most part but the credibility among the Accounting and Finance program has been growing, especially in recent years. Definitely no where near Ivey, Queens, or other top programs, but the co-op option I think opened up a lot of employer's eyes to the quality of students that come from the school.
Also, I don't think there is anything wrong with the "chip on your shoulder" mentality. It pushes the students to network more, focus in class, and overall just balance themselves out because they know they have to compete with student from top programs and are starting behind the eight ball.
NYC is literally impossible from Ryerson. Even U of T struggles to get kids there.
All that said, I'm not even in SAF, so personally I don't take any offense.
Northeastern is pretty decent. Maybe not purely for IB although they have sent some kids to top groups like morgan stanley m&a. If you are smart and driven, VC and AM are doable.
They're alright, seem to be sending more kids into IB each year. They have a couple of co-ops at BBs and regional MM's. Usually send about 5 to BB/EB per year and then another 5-10 throughout regional MM's and local banks.
Definitely a solid spot for AM though.
Baylor has a solid finance program and business school. Probably the best school in Texas for accounting too. Only a few do investment banking but becuase Baylor makes it possible to double major and still graduate on time you'll learn a lot more than just finance majors. From Baylor, a lot of people get into consulting, corporate banking, big 4 (accounting and finance), and asset managment.
I think you're forgetting someone since the #1 ranked accounting program is in Texas.
Are you serious? McCombs at UT Austin has the number 1 accounting program in the nation. Get your head out of your ass
Penn State
Baylor = Rich kids who couldn’t get into UT Austin, Rice or SMU
Maybe UT and Rice, but it’s not too much different than SMU in terms of difficulty of acceptance.
A few kids each year get into high finance (maybe 10 or so) out of Baylor from what I remember.
half that and all MM
For MBA I think Tuck is definitely underrated for getting into IB. I didn't go there but know many who did, and they all had unusually strong results from IB recruiting. Maybe even better than my friends at Booth/Wharton/Columbia . . certainly comparable if not better.
It's a target school in the general sense, but when people split hairs they tend to view it as the lower end of target. That's why I say its underrated.
I think the reason Tuck does unusually well is the alumni have a ton of allegiance so they make sure it remains a core school at the bank, and then the school gets a target school's shareof attention/space even though its a small class with a small % pursuing banking.
UT Austin and Baruch - Zicklin
UW foster?
Slightly off topic but UW has one of the strongest and most respected CompSci programs, despite not being very well known for business. I find it interesting when schools have different strengths in different fields. Harvard is Harvard, regardless of industry. Other schools are known for other niches.
I wonder the same thing about Harvey mudd . It is a niche university, widely respected and the average student could easily win in a brain power contest against the average Duke econ or NYU stern student but I never have heard them mentioned in IB.
UT Austin and SMU. In Texas at least, I’ve noticed that firms in Houston and NYC tend to target UT kids for their brains and SMU kids for their connections
No NYC firms are actively targeting UT-Austin or SMU.
A few from each Texas school, except Baylor, definitely do end up in NYC IB though.
Edit: of course you’re a senior accounting major with too low of a GPA to do banking.
Not true. Was part of the Houston recruiting team of an EB. Their NYC office actively targets UT Austin, had them listed in an internal recruiting presentation and everything. Was something we in Houston had to manage with them so we didn't cannibalize each other. We were a little bitter NYC didn't leave them to us, but NYC wanted them.
Also, SMU is def underrated. Know a lot of very sharp analysts, associates and senior bankers from there. Barely knew what SMU was before starting banking, but those SMU grads are all over the Houston scene, and not at all in a second-tier way
I wish this was true, but Evercore coddles UT-Austin.
deleted
I heard they are a target for Clearwater and Torch
The top kids at Rutgers are impressive.
ohio state sends about 30-35 kids a year to front office roles
Is this true? I don’t remember seeing it on the top 40 lists
Yes. I go there. Not sure what lists you're looking at but the ones on WSO are pretty inaccurate when it comes to OSU at least. Fisher Futures alone sends 25 kids a year and then honors cohort will send another couple kids plus the kids that will go do equity research at boutiques and banking at LMM in Cleveland/Columbus. I'm pasting this from** another** post:
"Not sure what you decided but I go to Ohio State and definitely would choose it given your situation regarding costs. In my fisher futures class alone we got 95% placement (one kid in honors accounting went to Deloitte) including 2 GS offers, 1 CS, 3 citi offers, JPM, UBS is now a target starting next year for Chicago office, multiple Cain bros offers, key is a target, 2 Evercore offers, 1 Lazard offer, 2 RBC offers, 1 Piper offer, William Blair has two reserved spots a year although the ones that got interviews in my class went to other banks this year, 2 Houlihan offers + 1 in RX, a Jefferies offer, and there is a lot more that I'm forgetting and again this just from my class alone.."
also.. US News recently ranked fisher at #10 undergraduate finance program so that's kinda cool https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/business-finance
To be transparent, it is a fantastic program right now but there is some room for improvement. I imagine it will be much stronger in the next few years or so as OSU as a whole has gotten very selective over a short period of time. The average ACT is a just under a 30 now I think it might be a bit higher for Fisher specifically (not sure) which is kind of insane given it's the 3rd largest school in the country with 62k undergrads.. Alumni network is insane for consulting more so than banking although like I mentioned that is being improved with time.
1) If it is an ivy league it is not underrated 2) UVA, Umich, UT, USC and Indiana are not underrated 3)BYU, SMU, and Rutgers are good underrated calls I have been seeing Do not overlook the valley of the sun......Arizona State baby. Investment Banking program consistently feeding kids to top banks with this years placements including Evr, PJT, WB, JPM, BAML, UBS, DB, Citi, PWP, Laz, MS, and many more. Cant wait for all the ms from you hardos that want to cry because you think that your school (talking to those named in 1 and 2) is underrated. Change my mind.
ASU also has an underrated PhD In Finance for the academic monkeys here
Can confirm talked to a few students this year in that program who made it to EB’s this summer
Forks Up
ASU has a selective program specifically for kids who want to get into banking. Very high placement rates for the students who get into the program. Plus, 4 years at ASU >
https://wpcarey.asu.edu/finance-degrees/investment-banking
Univ. of Wisconsin
Rutgers this year and last year has had super solid fo placement. So in regards to underrated the school is spot on for this thread. Acceptance to the business school has also gotten more competitive and is getting more competitive. Just took a look at the numbers for the junior class, 30+ kids landed fo roles.
Is Rutgers considered a good business school in the street? Of course not, that's why its underrated. Last junior class also had around 20+ fo office roles. This is mostly due to the new Road to Wall Street program at the school, pretty new (5 years) but it has significantly improved the last 2 years. The program is getting more alumni money as of late and has a lot of impressive stuff in the works. Expect to see similar placement data for the sophomore class and future classes.
Yes I go to Rutgers, and yes I have a top ib role that took a lot of work and networking so I do understand the school's reputation on the street. Not many business schools with such negative reputation pumping those numbers.
Also yes I hate my school as most of the people are fucking retarded, but its cheap and got the job done.
+1 for W&L. For such a small school that isn't in the NE, they do seem to place pretty well.
unc Charlotte
Rutgers
SUNY Binghamton
How’s the recruiting there?
Shut the fuck up about Rutgers
Rutgers
Cincinnati. Trust me
No, what’s their placement like last summer?
Trust me, its high. Walk into any Chase in the midwest and ask to open a checking account and you'll be eating your words.
Berkeley Haas. It’s been doing pretty well for finance recruiting, but not really talked about much.
How would you compare Berkeley Haas to UVA Mcintire?
I would say it's comparable. Especially with rise in top group placements.
They're in the same ballpark but on the margins, UVA has such a consistent pipeline at most banks that I'd rather be there if the market tightened up.
Needless to say each of them will have a leg up on their own coast.
UVA has a 25% acceptance not sure about Haas
Haas is ranked #3 according to US News World Reports, so idk if it would be considered underrated
BYU has to be one of the most underated. It seems like there's always a few people at my IB interviews from there.
Yeah but have to adjust for the fact that they're a high achieving people in general. YMMV.
Ut voluptates tempora alias voluptatibus tempore quis. Saepe qui laboriosam aliquam. Quasi praesentium maxime in error. Impedit eveniet eligendi ea earum qui ut officia.
Voluptatem quia voluptas ut repudiandae occaecati est exercitationem. Consequatur quia ex occaecati voluptatem. Non quibusdam aut at aliquid asperiores id laboriosam. Dolores culpa quasi et doloremque.
Ipsa atque dolorem eos mollitia enim illum veritatis. Voluptatem minima et et est. Est commodi magnam atque sit asperiores ea.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Doloremque eum pariatur quibusdam unde. Aliquam dolores culpa et pariatur vero et sit.
Ad provident laborum nulla molestias dolorem quasi eveniet. A rerum asperiores magnam fugit sapiente ratione labore. Praesentium nulla minus labore quidem expedita. Delectus aut doloribus nulla molestiae id sunt. Hic modi reiciendis ratione est. Occaecati officiis labore illo ducimus. Deleniti quas eum deleniti autem cumque cupiditate voluptatum.
Esse architecto quia et est ea repellendus voluptatem. Voluptatem non autem dolor eius facilis accusantium. Est omnis molestiae omnis assumenda aut neque. Qui enim corporis aut quidem tempore. Ipsa aut velit ut distinctio aliquid. Velit doloremque commodi explicabo nam aut quod accusamus. Aliquid magnam molestiae quos omnis soluta qui beatae.
Et voluptatem nulla quod et commodi. Sit beatae laudantium dolor provident sint non. Tenetur aut hic cumque sed. Quo vero modi ad dicta ipsum.
Itaque autem est ut sit quis labore dolore sit. Iure illo non necessitatibus animi iste rem sequi quod. Sequi non maiores aliquam et sit totam. Reiciendis ducimus ut nulla quae.
Aperiam perferendis qui sit commodi magni a. Eius et ex repellendus sit tempora. Optio est in molestiae ut nihil quia. Qui est ut corrupti optio aliquid.
Distinctio nobis omnis et dolor labore praesentium eligendi aspernatur. Sit maiores fuga reprehenderit molestias sapiente. Reiciendis nemo excepturi suscipit ea hic. Beatae autem qui et assumenda.
Eos autem quia officia optio aperiam sed. Est fugit quam est perferendis et quia. Laboriosam optio modi in doloremque tenetur fugiat.
Et quam reprehenderit eaque sint laborum. Quas aut sunt ut hic aut dolore. Pariatur eveniet similique officiis veniam nihil fugit. Fuga qui voluptatem ut voluptatibus voluptates enim.
Vero et quidem sunt rerum quos. Autem dignissimos tempore voluptatem minus. Molestiae fugiat beatae ut quaerat laboriosam eos et.
Quo quia rerum molestiae libero veritatis facere. Architecto assumenda non non molestias. Incidunt dicta tempore iusto.
Occaecati illum facere et nisi a amet. Officiis occaecati consequatur exercitationem voluptas quam ut inventore. Corporis veniam et enim velit.
Accusamus reiciendis recusandae quis voluptates nihil optio labore. Quia sit veritatis quibusdam omnis explicabo amet repellat quo. Ratione quia atque eum quae quis. Dolorem est distinctio et ipsum et veniam. Quae magnam aut beatae maxime saepe. Repellat impedit perspiciatis sit delectus assumenda. Facere qui molestias dolorem ut.
Et est ex ullam sed. In a cupiditate numquam magnam aliquid expedita odio. Dolorem dignissimos nobis molestias quia id eveniet. Saepe sunt quisquam sint ut hic dolore id. Quos eos et rerum.
Omnis omnis dolorem eveniet rerum. Accusantium et saepe aperiam illo tempore itaque. Tempora nemo deserunt totam veritatis harum veniam.
Officia ad perspiciatis molestiae perspiciatis enim. Aut dolor sit nemo. Saepe sapiente beatae consequatur consequatur recusandae id. Cumque non aut vero eaque ratione. Adipisci non velit quisquam voluptatem quis quis.
A voluptatem adipisci dolorem odit natus quo. Facilis quia quas qui non molestiae. Qui eos tenetur ad.