Hey trying to decide which to go to if I want to do investment banking, where would I have the best shots? Is Vandy or BC more prestigious?
@bobsmith5101 You have to provide information about yourself for question #1
like what else @gearmom
@bobsmith5101 Your stats. How is anyone going to know if you have a shot based on no information
BC has a large presence in the banking sector, but Vanderbilt is also very well regarded. I do not think it matters which university you attend. Both are exceptional universities in their own special way. Since they are very different from each other, do you have a personal preference? Always go for fit. That being said, Vanderbilt is more selective than BC, so keep that in mind where you are applying.
I have ben accepted to both just to clarify sorry
A few comments:
–I would consider these schools to be academic peers.
–There are very few investment banking jobs available for undergrads. You can check with each school’s career placement office to see if any or how many graduating students get jobs in that sector.
–Some Jesuit schools can be hard to transfer into and graduate on time due to the large liberal arts core curriculum. I would google BC’s core and see if you will have issues graduating in 4 years.
–The job you get will be based on much more than the school you attend – factors such as: GPA, coursework taken, major, internships you have done, what you have done at school outside of the classroom, how well you interview etc. will be factors as well.
HI all Just to clarify information, thanks for your responses so far!!!
1.) I have already been accepted to Vanderbilt Econ major and business minor
2.) I have already been accepted to Boston College Business School, major: Finance
I am also transferring, and will have junior status at both of these places that I am transferring to. Thanks!
@Alexandre I seem to want to go to Vanderbilt because it is more prestigious and selective. I want to probably go where the best opportunities are.
Vandy Pros:
-cool city, nashville
-elite
-great culture seems like when talking to people there
-everyone loves it
Vandy cons:
-too much greek life, i dont want greek life
-no finance/biz major like BC
-location, not closer to nyc?
BC Pros:
-no greek life which I LOVE
-have a business major, I guess this is a pro, not sure how much major matters anymore
-in Boston of course awesome city
BC Cons:
-heard it is very j crew catalog like, not sure if I like that as I am already transferring from a southern, preppy institituion
-not sure how elite/well-regarded
-no sure if I would even want to do a finance major and instead explore more liberal arts opportunities
If you are interested solely in academic “prestige,” Vanderbilt is the better choice. However, academic prestige itself does not translate directly into an advantage for IB recruiting. Swarthmore, for example, is more academically prestigious than Hamilton, but the latter has a pipeline into the finance industry that the former lacks.
Crucial to IB recruiting is whether or not the college you attend is a “target school” for banks. For a variety of reasons, different banks focus their recruitment at different schools. They will offer multiple presentations at full-on “target schools,” and some–but fewer–presentations at “semi-targets.” That doesn’t mean that you can’t get hired for Bank X from a non-target, but you will certainly be at a competitive disadvantage.
Another factor to consider is that banks will recruit from some schools for their official “Wall Street” offices in NYC, but other schools for regional offices. For instance, banks might recruit from Vanderbilt for their Houston or Chicago offices, but not for their NYC offices. If by “banking” you mean “Wall Street,” then you should consider possible regional biases in hiring.
For more specific information about the BC vs. Vandy question, I suggest that you do a search on the WallStreetOasis site. Be forewarned that many of the posts there reflect a juvenile, bro-ish, “Wall Street or bust” mentality, but you can also fined very useful information about IB recruiting from various US campuses. Good luck!
thanks… ugh I am so conflicted… because BC is close to NYC and good with recruiting 
gosh! @MrSamford2014 which do you think I would have a better shot at NYC IB?
I agree with what others have said about the importance of going to a “target” school for someone with IB goals. Isn’t Vanderbilt a semi-target? Anyways, I would think you would have to network/hustle to get NYC IB from both these schools, and I would have a backup plan in case IB does not work out.
It’s pointless to squabble over these two schools for the sake of IB. Both are semi-targets. Pick a school based on your personal fit rather than which is better for IB. It is possible to get into IB at both but it is pretty much equally hard.
While BC is closer to NYC, it along with Vanderbilt still falls behind the Ivies, Georgetown, Haas, Stern, UMich, UVA, Stanford, Northwestern, Williams, Amherst, and a few others. But there is still OCR from Barclays, Citi, DB, BAML, Deutsche, and UBS.
You seem to have a better personal fit for BC, especially since you don’t like greek life.
If you don’t mind my asking, what is your current school?
You say that it’s “Southern preppy,” and you imply that you don’t like that. However, Vandy also has a reputation for being “Southern preppy,” while BC has one for being “Northern preppy.” Nevertheless, Vanderbilt strikes me as being a more diverse institution (culturally speaking) than BC, so if you are looking for an alternative to an unremittingly “J. Crew” vibe, it might be the better choice.
Similarly, if you aren’t fully committed to the Finance major at BC (such that there is a chance you would take a more “liberal arts” approach to major and course selection), then that removes a possible “advantage” of BC. Don’t worry that Vanderbilt lacks a Finance or Business major; the same could be said for many other elite privates, including Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. My daughter is an Econ major + Business minor at Rice, a peer institution of Vanderbilt which, like Vandy, does not have a Business/Finance major. Nevertheless, that fact does not stop many IBs from recruiting on campus (though, generally speaking, they are recruiting for their energy / oil & gas teams operating out of their Houston offices).
I did a little reading on WallStreetOasis, and what I found confirmed my general impression of things: BC sends a lot of people into finance, but not necessarily into the upper-echelon front-office IB jobs. Its location in the Northeast helps with Wall Street recruiting, but it’s more a “semi-target” than a “target” for the big banks. Vanderbilt sends fewer people into banking, largely because its curriculum is less focused on business than is BC’s. Still, lots of banks recruit at Vanderbilt, both for regional and NYC offices, and because fewer people, relatively speaking, are pursuing banking, the competition with your peers might be a bit less intense than it would be at BC.
If I were making this choice, I’d go with Vanderbilt. I think it offers a more prestigious brand overall, and–aside from its location–it doesn’t lack anything that BC provides. Moreover, if you are used to a laid-back Southern vibe, you might encounter a fair bit of culture shock in moving to a preppy Catholic school with a strong Northeastern focus.
I do not think BC is any more J Crew-ish than Vanderbilt. Both are pretty preppy. The average household income of students at Vanderbilt is slightly over $200k/year, with a whopping 23% coming from families belonging to the now infamous top 1%, while the average household income of BC students is slightly under $200k/year, with an almost equally imposing 16% belonging to the top 1%.
As others have pointed out, both are considered semi-targets by bulge bracket Wall Street investment banks.
I would go for fit.
IMO, Vanderbilt and Boston College are relatively similar schools in terms of prestige - and both are semi-targets for Investment Banking. Have you checked with the schools to see how much OCR is done at each school? BC has the advantage for being close to Boston, NYC, Providence, etc. If it was me, I would take BC, especially since you said you’re not keen on the thought of a school where greek life has an overwhelming presence.
Both might be roughly equal targets for banks/finance, but there could be a difference in the actual education you receive, which ai think is important::
BC does have the Business program, which Vandy lacks. This means you can get a more rounded business education there, if that’s what you would like. You will likely have access to courses in Finance, International Business, Marketing, Operations, Org Behavior, Accounting, Cost/Price, System Management, Negotiations, maybe even Business Law. (obviously also micro and macro…)
Now if you are able to take some classes at Owen (Vandy’s grad B school), that might help to mitigate BC’s Business curriculum advantage.
If you seek a rounded Business education, check available courses.
In terms of social vibe, I think they are probably pretty similar, though Vandy is obviously more Greek.
The main differences here are location/weather and the lack of an undergraduate Business program at Vandy.
I am curious. To those who say that Vanderbilt has more prestige and a ‘better name’. On what is that based? What makes it stand out against the likes of BC other than being the name bearer of one of the most notorious ‘robber barons’ (this, by the way, is not a compliment) that this country has ever produced?
@leanid Vanderbilt has an acceptance rate of around 10%, which is close to 1/3 of Boston College’s acceptance rate of 29%. The admitted class profile for BC has a SAT middle 50% of 1920-2160 on the old scale. Vanderbilt’s SAT middle 50% is 2110- 2360. Vanderbilt is simply much harder to get into, therefore more exclusive and prestigious. Rankings don’t mean everything, but Vanderbilt has a USNEWS ranking of 15 and Boston College of 31. Vanderbilt is one of the best universities in the south. Boston College isn’t even top 3 in the Boston Area. Vanderbilt’s endowment is $3.8 billion compared to Boston College’s $2 billion. Vanderbilt has created the aura and brand of prestige, and it is just overall viewed as a more prestigious and better school by the public.
Why is Harvard or any Ivy league school viewed as more elite than Boston College other than the Ivy league status, which originated as an athletic conference?
Boston College is definitely a fantastic school, and I was also accepted to BC and have a bias towards it. It is also definitely catching up and becoming better known, but it still falls behind elite schools like Vandy.
Now whether all this “prestige” is actually important in general or specifically for investment banking is another question. The department within the university is more important than the overall school. I personally don’t think the Vandy’s overall prestige is that beneficial compared to BC CSOM when it comes to IB.
Well, touché, Dontskipthemoose, touché!