Kid wants to work on Wall Street

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising high school senior with dreams of working for one of the big Wall Street banks (Goldman, JPM, etc.) after college. His older cousin went that route out of Harvard, and after making it through two years of hell in the form of 80-90 hour weeks, he's living the good life and making bank. DS doesn't have Ivy stats like his cousin, but he's a strong student with a 3.8UW/4.3W at a respectable public, 1480/33, and well-rounded ECs including varsity sports, student government, piano, volunteering, etc. He wants to stay in the eastern half of the country but otherwise is geographically open. What schools should be on his list?

Look into Northeastern University in Boston. What sets them apart is their mandatory co op internship program. A friend’s child with a similar profile to your son went that route from Northeastern and is now working at Goldman Sachs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait. So OP posted the question at 11:31 AM, and then literally within one minute the "Bucknell/The Street" poster just happens to have read it *and* responded...

...and then in the next 45 minutes there are seven more posts about Bucknell?

Yeah. It's really sad. Maybe it's all being done by Bucknell admissions office.

The Bucknell kids go to The Street poster is nuts. A third rate school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising high school senior with dreams of working for one of the big Wall Street banks (Goldman, JPM, etc.) after college. His older cousin went that route out of Harvard, and after making it through two years of hell in the form of 80-90 hour weeks, he's living the good life and making bank. DS doesn't have Ivy stats like his cousin, but he's a strong student with a 3.8UW/4.3W at a respectable public, 1480/33, and well-rounded ECs including varsity sports, student government, piano, volunteering, etc. He wants to stay in the eastern half of the country but otherwise is geographically open. What schools should be on his list?

Look into Northeastern University in Boston. What sets them apart is their mandatory co op internship program. A friend’s child with a similar profile to your son went that route from Northeastern and is now working at Goldman Sachs.

And hates every minute of his 100 hours a week life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait. So OP posted the question at 11:31 AM, and then literally within one minute the "Bucknell/The Street" poster just happens to have read it *and* responded...

...and then in the next 45 minutes there are seven more posts about Bucknell?

lol + 1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why?

I don’t think I know a single HS kid who wants to work on Wall Street unless their parents or close adults already are.

Kids are usually more romantic. They know they need a job and need to find a major that will get them a job. But they are usually looking to 1. Be in a helping profession (doctor, teacher, social worker); 2. Be the smartest one around (collect advanced degrees); 3. Be in a follower of their passion (theatre, math, French poetry); 4. Be an entrepreneur (specifics not needed) and 5. Be like mom/dad or not be like mom/dad.

This is ridiculous. My DC wants to be an engineer and design weapons for the military with neither parent having a connection to the military. Doesn't really fit under any of your numbers above unless they scribble French poetry on the missiles they want to design.

I’m sad you couldn’t raise children with morals.

DP they actually investigate your morals very carefully when you apply for a clearance.

[Anonymous]

UVA. https://news.virginia.edu/content/wall-street-journal-ranks-uva-among-leaders-finance-consulting-tech-jobs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone has to do the back office jobs. That's where Bucknell fits in. As they say, it's a living.

What kind of pay and working hours do these mundane (?) back office jobs have?

Not great pay, typically 50- maybe 70k entry, little career progression, and typically 50-80 (this is rarer) hours per week. It’s like an elevated stressful typical job

Again…this isn’t true…there is career progression for college educated kids. There are quite a few HS grads / Associate Degree back office jobs that are basically hourly jobs which are different.

Yeah, this is who Bucknell grads have to compete with for the back office jobs.

And those kids with two year degrees, still going to night school, usually get the jobs and get promoted. They have a tremendous work ethic (didn't spend four years drunk at Bucknell).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising high school senior with dreams of working for one of the big Wall Street banks (Goldman, JPM, etc.) after college. His older cousin went that route out of Harvard, and after making it through two years of hell in the form of 80-90 hour weeks, he's living the good life and making bank. DS doesn't have Ivy stats like his cousin, but he's a strong student with a 3.8UW/4.3W at a respectable public, 1480/33, and well-rounded ECs including varsity sports, student government, piano, volunteering, etc. He wants to stay in the eastern half of the country but otherwise is geographically open. What schools should be on his list?

The best feeders for his goals are ivies , , MIT, Stanford, Northwestern, Duke, maybe 1-2 more. Yours is not that level based on stats, so aim one tier lower. Look at poets and quants. Lots of T15-T30 could work out for him, but those are still reachy based on 3.8uw(unless he is from a super top private or boarding school where 3.8uw is still top 25%)

[Anonymous]

This student is not ivy/plus caliber. Top 15 LACs may provide a big bang for the bucks and may have a shot at admission if he EDs. Check all T15 LACs against wallstreet feeder lists and pick the best fit to ED.

[Anonymous]

Whoever keeps saying Bucknell… it’s fine but there are better options for this kid given his stats. The ivies and T15 are reaches.
NYU Stern ED especially if you don’t have an in via connections OP which it sounds like you don’t.
BC EDII

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alright OP, this is an area I'm very familiar with and can give some insight. Wall Street is still very prestige driven when we're talking about desirable roles (investment banking, sales & trading, and buy side role e.g., private equity, asset management, hedge funds, etc.). This has improved in recent years but there are many online resources that show the 'target' schools that these institutions primarily hire from. The heavy hitters are Ivy League schools (esp. HYP and Wharton), and similarly prestigious programs, but there are some slightly more accessible schools that your kid should look into if interested in 'high finance':

UVA (Darden)
Georgetown (McD)
U Michigan (Ross)
NYU (Stern)
Emory (Goizuetta)

These would all be reaches, but not totally out of the question. They all have dedicated business schools that have very strong pipelines into IB and Wall St. more broadly. Indiana University's Kelley is another program that places remarkably well and has lower selectivity than the usual suspects. Fordham and Boston College also have some success, but limited comparatively.

Outside of these, some schools do very well regionally (SMU and UT Austin for example), particularly in the Houston scene, though your kid might be less interested in going to college/working there.

I'd ignore much of the advice you'll hear about small schools that "punch above their weight". It's not that some SLACs don't do well (WASP, CMC, and some other very selective LACs do great), but for the most part this is kind of a fiction. I know many people who went to Bucknell or Villanova pursuing finance -- none of those people work in IB, PE, S&T, etc., though they can do fine if targeting corp. dev or accounting I guess.

Main takeaway: Wall St. has its favorites, and breaking in from outside of them is a very uphill battle. It's also worth mentioning that it's a very tough, very cutthroat career path. Definitely the kind pursuit where it's helpful to have other options in mind when you're in college.

Great summary. Until a few years ago, i did m and a for a top nyc law firm. It seemed like everyone i worked with at our client companies was an alum of an Ivy, a very top SLAC, or a very short list of other top schools (stanford, mit, chicago, maybe michigan). As others have said, there also are grads of NYC colleges who live and breathe finance and work harder than anyone (crazy how well Baruch grads, often first gen Americans, do). I literally never came across anyone from Bucknell, Lehigh, or most of the other schools mentioned in this chain. The industry employs a lot of people and has a lot of non-glamorous jobs that a Bucknell grad could fill, but I've never seen them among dealmakers, traders, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait. So OP posted the question at 11:31 AM, and then literally within one minute the "Bucknell/The Street" poster just happens to have read it *and* responded...

...and then in the next 45 minutes there are seven more posts about Bucknell?

Yeah. It's really sad. Maybe it's all being done by Bucknell admissions office.

The Bucknell kids go to The Street poster is nuts. A third rate school.

No, you're nuts. Bucknell is ranked #30 among LACs. It's within 5-10 spots of W&L, Colgate, Haverford, Colby, and Bates. How in the world is that a third rate school? Does each tier only have 5-10 schools or something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait. So OP posted the question at 11:31 AM, and then literally within one minute the "Bucknell/The Street" poster just happens to have read it *and* responded...

...and then in the next 45 minutes there are seven more posts about Bucknell?

Yeah. It's really sad. Maybe it's all being done by Bucknell admissions office.

The Bucknell kids go to The Street poster is nuts. A third rate school.

No, you're nuts. Bucknell is ranked #30 among LACs. It's within 5-10 spots of W&L, Colgate, Haverford, Colby, and Bates. How in the world is that a third rate school? Does each tier only have 5-10 schools or something?

OK. Sorry. Second rate. Do you feel better now?

If we all agree that it's second rate and not third rate, will you stop all of your "pipeline to The Street " nonsense?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait. So OP posted the question at 11:31 AM, and then literally within one minute the "Bucknell/The Street" poster just happens to have read it *and* responded...

...and then in the next 45 minutes there are seven more posts about Bucknell?

Yeah. It's really sad. Maybe it's all being done by Bucknell admissions office.

The Bucknell kids go to The Street poster is nuts. A third rate school.

No, you're nuts. Bucknell is ranked #30 among LACs. It's within 5-10 spots of W&L, Colgate, Haverford, Colby, and Bates. How in the world is that a third rate school? Does each tier only have 5-10 schools or something?

NP yeah I think the number of SLACs worth attending is very small and then you’re quickly into “huh never heard of it, where is that?” territory (which includes Bucknell, sorry Bucknell troll).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait. So OP posted the question at 11:31 AM, and then literally within one minute the "Bucknell/The Street" poster just happens to have read it *and* responded...

...and then in the next 45 minutes there are seven more posts about Bucknell?

Yeah. It's really sad. Maybe it's all being done by Bucknell admissions office.

The Bucknell kids go to The Street poster is nuts. A third rate school.

No, you're nuts. Bucknell is ranked #30 among LACs. It's within 5-10 spots of W&L, Colgate, Haverford, Colby, and Bates. How in the world is that a third rate school? Does each tier only have 5-10 schools or something?

NP yeah I think the number of SLACs worth attending is very small and then you’re quickly into “huh never heard of it, where is that?” territory (which includes Bucknell, sorry Bucknell troll).

But it's a first-rate drinking school. Those kids can drink anyone under the table. And as it's now Tuesday night, the weekend is already here for the Bucknell booster!

Two for one pitchers, and then all get ready for The Street!