<p>After college, i wish to work as a financial analyst at an airline (American, United, Delta, Southwest, Jetblue, Virgin America, etc.) Do these companies recruit heavily at top schools in their HQ cities? </p>
<p>IE American and Southwest at SMU, United at UChicago and Northwestern, Delta at Emory, Jetblue at NYU, Virgin America at UCLA/Berkeley/USC, etc.</p>
<p>bump 10char</p>
<p>I can’t give you an expert opinion, just my own… But I think that a school’s name always carries more weight in the area surrounding that school. Ex. I live in VT, so UVM, St. Mikes, Champlain, and Middlebury are all very well known, but they may not be in other states. With that being said, all of the schools you named are very well known and respected no matter where you are. So in general, it doesn’t hurt to be in or near where you want to work, but I don’t think it’s the end of the world. </p>
<p>Again, these are just my thoughts and I have no real solid evidence to back this up.</p>
<p>You could check with the career centers at the colleges you mentioned to see if those airlines frequently recruit there.</p>
<p>Former intern at Delta here. Can’t comment on other companies, but for Delta, undergrad recruiting is heavily swayed toward schools in the Atlanta area, mainly Georgia Tech for the more technical areas and I’ve seen many Emory/UGA people for the analyst roles. This is because internships are mostly recruited locally (though there are exceptions), and then these often lead to the full time hires. I have met new hires from other areas of the country, but attending an Atlanta school does seem to provide a big advantage. I feel that it is very hard to get an in with the company if your school doesn’t have the connection through their career center - I applied through our internal school website, and like most companies, it seems that applying directly to their online postings on their public website is nearly useless.</p>
<p>When I attended new-hire orientation there were some Analyst new hires there too, maybe about 20 of them when I started, so not a huge number, but I’m not sure how many they usually recruit. Also keep in mind Delta seems to be the only airline doing well these days… United is still a mess after its merger, American just came out of bankruptcy, US Airways is about to merge w/ American, Southwest is domestic only (no free weekend trips to Asia with your flight benefits!), and JetBlue/Virgin America are much smaller than the rest.</p>
<p>I think this question has two answers to it. First of all, going to college in the same town may be to your advantage. Others who work at the company who will ultimately be responsible for hiring you may be partial to local schools and colleges. In reality, however, the school you go to and its reputation for the education it provides will weigh more than where the school is located. Add to this a strong resume with experience and active work, whether it is paid or volunteer work, will be what influences the final decision more than anything else.</p>