<p>Deciding where I'm applying and when - ED vs. RD.</p>
<p>Is Dartmouth more of a target for IB firms than non-Wharton UPenn? </p>
<p>Any other variables to take into consideration?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Sigh. It’s threads like this that make me (and IBanking recruiters) want to facepalm.</p>
<p>Both schools are phenomenal for investment banking, as is nearly every school in the USNR top 25 (not to mention NESCAC schools). Obviously, Wharton recruiting blows UPenn SAS out of the water; subsequently, SAS’ recruiting looks meager - it isn’t when you consider variables such as lack of interest with SAS students to pursue finance/business. Dartmouth students similarly are beneficiaries of an awesome on campus recruiting program from nearly every major financial institution (except for F500 companies’ finance departments, which is a big deal if you can’t quite make the cut for more competitive IB recruiting). There is always the possibility of transferring to Wharton from SAS (which I’ve heard - though I may be mistaken - is doable).</p>
<p>Remember, once you’re in the upper crust of schools, your school prestige becomes a marginal benefit in relation to just as important factors like your extracurricular involvement and GPA. If you ED to Dartmouth salivating over IB opportunities and end up hating social and academic life and end up doing very poorly, well, you can kiss your chances goodbye. </p>
<p>You’re going to get this a lot, and it’s because it’s true - pick Penn or Dartmouth for proper social and academic fit, not ‘investment banking opportunities’. The benefit, if there even is one between the two, is marginal. The social and academic atmospheres that both schools exude, however, are substantial.</p>
<p>Yes yes, but some individuals have had fairly well-argued opinions of why one will offer me more than another.</p>
<p>At that point, it will be you as an indivdual. Like honor says, you place way too much into perceived differences btn D and Penn. But feel free to discount our opinions and insert yours. I’m sure there will be people who believe as you do.</p>
<p>You’re hoping to enter an extremely analysis intense field. But you’re asking for examples of people who were recruited for IB at both D and Penn? On your other thread on the Penn forum you’ve gotten more than sufficient answers.</p>
<p>Go make a choice. Call this your pre-pre-interview task as a future IBer. Waffling won’t serve you well in this field</p>
Ease versus placement are different animals. In terms of placement, it’s roughly Wharton > Penn CAS =/> Dartmouth.
In terms of ease, most likely Dartmouth > Penn CAS > Wharton (i.e. wharton kids are held to the highest standards, and where literally everyone is going for the same positions, resumes look identical)
Dartmouth does very well for recruiting at many firms, but not universally. Many don’t recruit there (Distance, small size). All recruit at Penn (because of Wharton, but not limited to Wharton). If you come into Penn CAS with the mindset to transfer into Wharton, that’s the wrong mindset and you probably won’t do well (if you’re doing things more for the prestige or recruiting opps, you’re gonna probably find classes really difficult, and your lack of genuine interest will most likely be weeded out).
If you saw the Linkedin rankings, you would see that Penn (and specifically, not just Wharton i.e. because no Whartonite would list just UPenn as their school on Linkedin ) does very well for IBD recruiting. Wharton recruiting does not “blow SAS out of the water” - it doesn’t specifically exist, no firm recruits solely at Wharton, and there are maybe a handful of firms (out of hundreds) that exclusively take finance majors (Silverlake, Evercore … but they are such small numbers and pretty much ONLY recruit Wharton grads, forget Yale, Princeton let alone Dartmouth, Stanford).
Investment Banking is hard to get in, but can be made easier by (1) early interest, and (2) strong, likable personality for interviews. Base level competencies in math or being able to get up to speed with IBD interview prep should be universal to Ivy League students (save Brown?). People don’t understand this coming in, and the big, bulge bracket firms (Citi, MS, JPM, GS etc) get hundreds of applications which are 70% by serial resume droppers, 30% people who have done their homework.
For bulge bracket firms, I would say Dartmouth is probably less competitive because people focus less on it and it’s less saturated in terms of the interview process (assuming you’re really driven to go into IBD). Wharton to IBD BB is not easy - your questions will be way more technical and you will be held to a much higher standard because it is the finance school. Likewise, Penn Econ majors do face a discount in their abilities because if they were really passionate and driven about IBD, they kinda need to convince interviewers why they didn’t internally transfer (i.e. they really like traditional Economics and prefer maths to accounting, less-quanty business econ, finance). For liberal arts majors, I would say that it is probably easiest at Penn just because your skill set and network (i.e. most represented school by a non-trivial margin) combination is really unique and unsaturated i.e. there are lots of political science, social science, scienc-y students represented at each of the big banks, and much less Penn liberal arts grads are going to be interested in IBD than compared to another Ivy (because Penn has an undergrad business).
That being said, I don’t know Dartmouth well enough to completely make such statements. I think both schools are prestigious enough to meet most standards, but when it comes down to shortlisting candidates for interviews and giving offers, interview skills, fit, soft skills, technical skills matter exponentially more.
Morgan Stanley loves Dartmouth. Both are good schools, once you got in, work hard, get internships, and be likeable and you’re in.
Please use old threads for research only and do not place new posts.