<p>I would really appreciate information regarding the schools with the top programs in finance and economics. Also, what are common starter jobs for undergraduates majoring in finance?</p>
<p>Investment Banking. It seems that with investment banking, prestige rules.</p>
<p>Go to the library and get a copy of Rugg's Recommendations.</p>
<p>finance?</p>
<p>in no particular order, just a few good schools:</p>
<p>upenn
university of illinois
berkeley
michigan
carnegie mellon</p>
<p>econ, again in no particular order:</p>
<p>cornell
uchicago
northwestern
michigan
berkeley
ucla
MIT</p>
<p>i'm not a business major, but i'm pretty sure a finance major can go into pretty much anything, from management to consulting to investment banking. same with econ.</p>
<p>Most universities with top BBA programs generally have good Econ departments. It does not, however, necessarily work the other way as many universities with highly regarded Business schools (like Chicago, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Harvard and Stanford) do not offer BBA programs and several top universities (like Brown, Princeton and most LACs) do not even have business schools.</p>
<p>If you just want a great education while at the same time, keep your options open for a career in IBanking, you can major in anything, including Business or Economics, and get it done. The key is to maintain a high GPA (generally over 3.5) and it helps to attend a university where IBanks recruit heavily.</p>
<p>Alexandre is on the money.</p>
<p>How's Columbia? :)</p>
<p>The top schools in terms of into Wall Street finance in my experience:</p>
<p>1: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Wharton, MIT
2: Dartmouth, Duke, Penn (CAS), Columbia, Williams, NYU Stern
3. Northwestern, Brown, Cornell, Amherst, Chicago, Cal-Haas, Michigan-Ross
4. UVA-McIntire, UNC-KF, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, etc.</p>
<p>stern > brown, northwestern, cornell, amherst? really? i know it's new york and all but... really?</p>
<p>While I might make some modest adjustments and additions to slipper’s list, I generally agree with the placement strength of the listed colleges for NYC-based investment banks. However, the universe of schools that send students to NYC-Wall Street is much, much longer and you can get there from scores of schools. You would also need to define which area of Wall Street you are referring to (I suspect that slipper is referring to traditional investment banking analyst jobs, eg, corporate finance, M&A, real estate finance, etc) as many schools will claim to have lots of I-banking recruitment and placement, but the actual jobs that these students perform will vary widely by function, by department, by responsibility, by pay, etc.</p>
<p>I also notice that the OP is from Chicago. The hiring for Investment banks in non-NYC locations has a much more regional flavor as the banks want locals to be in those offices. For Chicago, the most actively placed schools include Northwestern, U Chicago, Notre Dame, Wash U, U Michigan, U Wisconsin, U Illinois. The hiring may still be coordinated out of NYC, but the local folks will also be involved in the process. However, for sheer volume of jobs, NYC is the gorilla and everywhere else in the US typically has far fewer positions, including at the entry levels.</p>
<p>I agree with much of Slipper's list, with a few exceptions. I am sorry but I have not personally seen a ton of Williams students on wall street and have not really heard of Williams being a major feeder into wall street. And to be honest here, Brown does not seem to send many grads to wall street, as the other ivies tend to do. Other than those adjustments, I think his list is good.</p>
<p>Wouldn't Columbia be in category one? It's in NYC too + Ivy</p>
<p>Slipper says "in his experience" as if he's been to all those schools haha :P</p>
<p>Columbia doesn't belong in category one - there's no way to justify it being ranked on par with Harvard.</p>
<p>Its student body is not any stronger than the second category schools, and not as strong as the first category. The top finance companies seek the top students, and go wherever they are. Its not as if Columbia has any more top students than Dartmouth, Duke, or Penn CAS. </p>
<p>Being in NYC isn't really an advantage because the major banks still send recruiters (some alums, some none-alums) to every top school, and invite top applicants from every school to NYC for final round interviews. </p>
<p>Slipper hasn't been to every school, but he's worked in finance and knows what undergrads his fellow workers are coming from. Incoming summer analyst classes (internships at major banks which mostly started the second week of June) are a good reflection on how strong schools are recruited at:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ibankingoasis.com/node/5768%5B/url%5D">http://www.ibankingoasis.com/node/5768</a></p>
<p>This is a list of summer analysts based on a resume book from a major I-bank...not sure which one. Slipper's generally right on. Keep in mind this is just one bank out of maybe the top 8-10 major ones.</p>
<p>Er.... yes very solid evidence there.</p>
<p>"there's no way to justify it being ranked on par with Harvard."</p>
<p>Haha, are you kidding me?</p>
<p>There are plenty, plenty strong students in Columbia, and I know many people who didn't get into Columbia but got into Harvard etc and many Harvard admits who had not-too-special stats...</p>
<p>Vesalvay, </p>
<p>There are plenty of strong students at Columbia. Thats why it is ranked in Slipper's second category. </p>
<p>Harvard students are stronger than Columbia students on average. Columbia students are on par with Dartmouth, Duke, and Penn CAS. That is why its in the same category as them and not Harvard. It's not difficult to discern that. </p>
<p>Also, the undergraduate colleges of an entire Investment bank Summer Analyst class is pretty solid evidence....not sure what the sarcasm is about.</p>
<p>At the undergrad level when 99% go into the big elite banks, Columbia doesn't hold any advantage over its peers (Dartmouth, Duke, Penn). </p>
<p>Columbia's new york advantage works only at the MBA level when people are not necessarily looking at banks, but rather PE, hedge funds, etc and when being close to part time internships at smaller funds and firms is an advantage.</p>
<p>I actually agree with Slipper, but I would bump Ross to group 2 and the rest of Michigan in group 3. I would also put McIntire in group 3.</p>
<p>The following are the schools that have been mentioned as sources of students for Wall Street finance:</p>
<p>Amherst
Brown
UC Berkeley (Haas)
UCLA
Carnegie Mellon
U Chicago
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
Georgetown
Harvard
U Illinois
MIT
U Michigan (Ross)
U North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)
Northwestern
NYU (Stern)
U Penn (both CAS and Wharton)
Princeton
Stanford
Vanderbilt
U Virginia (McIntire)
Wash U
Williams
Yale</p>
<p>Would someone please comment on the observed difference in ability, intelligence, and performance in the workplace of the students from these schools?</p>
<p>One things for certain - Wharton definetely prepares its kids really well for finance jobs, even internships.</p>
<p>At my internship (research) it seems that the two Wharton dudes already knew all the accounting we learned during training - and they only just finished their sophomore years. </p>
<p>Of course, after training I haven't seen them so I don't know how they are doing with actual work rather than modules.</p>
<p>Well, I doubt the accounting during training is anything more than stuff covered in typical intro courses. That part of training is probably mainly for those who have not had any exposure to accounting anyway.</p>