The top investment banking schools are those that consistently place many students into top investment banks, have high placement rates for undergrads and provide special programmes or student groups to help prepare you for a career in finance. Cornell, MIT and Columbia all meet this requirement along with having prominent alumni from the industry and extracurricular activities like Stern’s finance society and Booth’s famous finance program, which offer opportunities to gain exposure to real world investment banking challenges.
These schools are also near a financial hub, in which smaller or regional investment banking institutions are located. This is a great place to network. Additionally, they typically have top-rated programs in their accounting and finance departments.
Other important aspects to consider when choosing a school are your personal interests and what kind of career you’d like to pursue, along with the types of jobs you’re interested in working within an investment bank. Contrary to other industries, which hire is more meritocratic through technical interviews, the recruitment process for investment banks is heavily dependent on school reputation and the quantity of top performing students that the university can produce every year.
Think about universities like NYU or UMich for students in the undergrad level. They have a strong reputation in the business world and are known to have impressive results in placement and alumni networks. In Europe you should look into HEC Paris and Oxford’s Said Business School. In Asia think about HKUST and CUHK and data rooms Chinese universities like Peking University, Tsinghua and Fudan.
