Kid wants to work on Wall Street

[Anonymous]

One thing that hasn't yet talked about is the requirement for a continued "cadence" of being perceived elite if you are coming to finance from Wharton or Harvard.

At the fund I work at, we had an analyst candidate from Oppenheimer (and Harvard before that). There was explicit questions about what the underlying "problem" must have been for him to end up at Oppenheimer (vs someplace like GS). If he had come from some other undergrad origin, depending on the precise location, we would have paradoxically given him credit for having the hustle to break in. Ultimately, it was less brain damage to look for more conventional patterns of career trajectory and we passed.

Bottom line: when you get on the A-train, better stay on it (if you want to be on the buyside).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing that hasn't yet talked about is the requirement for a continued "cadence" of being perceived elite if you are coming to finance from Wharton or Harvard.

At the fund I work at, we had an analyst candidate from Oppenheimer (and Harvard before that). There was explicit questions about what the underlying "problem" must have been for him to end up at Oppenheimer (vs someplace like GS). If he had come from some other undergrad origin, depending on the precise location, we would have paradoxically given him credit for having the hustle to break in. Ultimately, it was less brain damage to look for more conventional patterns of career trajectory and we passed.

Bottom line: when you get on the A-train, better stay on it (if you want to be on the buyside).

Great point. i think this applies to most areas of high finance. I went to top schools and have a colleague with two degrees from HYPS. We both ramped down our careers a bit so work more mid-office and get a lot of people wondering what is wrong with us and why we are there. I am considering trying to move back up and it is extremely hard as I am perceived as damaged goods - explaining that I did this for family reasons (especially as a man) is not appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is a 2025 list of top Wall Street feeder schools. Some aren't hard to get into:

https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-banking

Interesting, NYU so up there?

[Anonymous]

Whenever I hear a young person wants to go into finance, my heart breaks. You should wander, see and experience the world, follow impossible passions and dreams. So many kids around me (NYC) want to just make lots of money. Its so depressing to hear

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Worked in finance for years in Investor Relations, Investment Banking, and Private credit. These are the top schools in order
Harvard, Upenn, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Stanford, Dartmouth, Duke, MIT, Georgetown, NYU, Umich, UVA, Brown, Williams, Nortre Dame, Emory, UC Berkeley, Amherst

Honorable Mentions
UT Austin, WashU, USC, Vanderbilt, BYU, SMU, UNC, BC.

If the school isn't here do pay full price for finance and don't trust linkedin lists; ask professionals or you'll be let astray. It's not about how many on linkedin say they're in Investment banking. One, because there are many other high paying careers in high finance, and 2 it's about the EASE of recruitment. These 20 schools have on campus recruitment and SUPERDAYS/ on-campus INTERVIEWS.

You obviously haven't spent time at Williams or Middlebury lately. Among the SLACs they consistently outpunch Amherst at the moment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whenever I hear a young person wants to go into finance, my heart breaks. You should wander, see and experience the world, follow impossible passions and dreams. So many kids around me (NYC) want to just make lots of money. Its so depressing to hear

Literally maybe 5% of all people have a true passion or a dream that isn’t just a fantasy.

No offense, but what job do you think is acceptable? Even people who decide to try to cure cancer most likely didn’t have a “passion” for it. It just became an interesting way to make a living after deciding to pursue microbiology or something.

I doubt whatever job you do is the result of a passion.

[Anonymous]

Midd boosters actually believe they’re in the same zip code of Williams and Amherst-not. Prestige wise Midd is closer to Colby and Bates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Midd boosters actually believe they’re in the same zip code of Williams and Amherst-not. Prestige wise Midd is closer to Colby and Bates.

I couldn’t care less about Midd one way or the other, but it actually does have good finance placement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Midd boosters actually believe they’re in the same zip code of Williams and Amherst-not. Prestige wise Midd is closer to Colby and Bates.

I couldn’t care less about Midd one way or the other, but it actually does have good finance placement.

Better finance placement than Amherst, who’s now behind CMC- a college that’s not even in New England. Amherst needs to ramp up its recruiting efforts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worked in finance for years in Investor Relations, Investment Banking, and Private credit. These are the top schools in order
Harvard, Upenn, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Stanford, Dartmouth, Duke, MIT, Georgetown, NYU, Umich, UVA, Brown, Williams, Nortre Dame, Emory, UC Berkeley, Amherst

Honorable Mentions
UT Austin, WashU, USC, Vanderbilt, BYU, SMU, UNC, BC.

If the school isn't here do pay full price for finance and don't trust linkedin lists; ask professionals or you'll be let astray. It's not about how many on linkedin say they're in Investment banking. One, because there are many other high paying careers in high finance, and 2 it's about the EASE of recruitment. These 20 schools have on campus recruitment and SUPERDAYS/ on-campus INTERVIEWS.

You obviously haven't spent time at Williams or Middlebury lately. Among the SLACs they consistently outpunch Amherst at the moment.

Naval Academy probably ahead of all of these schools, especially now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Midd boosters actually believe they’re in the same zip code of Williams and Amherst-not. Prestige wise Midd is closer to Colby and Bates.

Someone’s kid didn’t get in.

[Anonymous]

On a per capita basis, these four schools are almost identical with respect to finance placement:

Claremont McKenna, then Amherst, then Williams, then Middlebury College.

Amherst, Williams, & Middlebury are, essentially in a 3 way tie for placement on a per capita basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On a per capita basis, these four schools are almost identical with respect to finance placement:

Claremont McKenna, then Amherst, then Williams, then Middlebury College.

Amherst, Williams, & Middlebury are, essentially in a 3 way tie for placement on a per capita basis.

That is generally correct unless you are implying that CMC is placing better than the others because it isn't.

They all place about the same overall. CMC does a bit better on the West Coast, the others do better on the East Coast. Williams and CMC are pretty stable in numbers, Middlebury is climbing and Amherst is falling a bit.

[Anonymous]

Poets and Quants has a ton of resources for those who want to work on the Street. Undergrad does matter, some a lot more than others.