<p>I see it thrown around here that the way to work on Wall Street is going to a prestigious university for finance (NYU, Emory, Georgetown etc) but what if someone like me is stuck going to a state school (University of Arizona) will I even have a chance to go anywhere big? </p>
<p>There’s an exception to every rule, but the overall chance of breaking into investment banking or other high finance jobs on wall street are rather slim for those who didn’t go to a “target” school.</p>
<p>I was on an advisory board at ASU until recently, I recall they were thrilled and over the moon that they had got a graduate into a Wall St bank, that bank was Lehman Bros. </p>
<p>No likely you will not get to work at a Wall St firm graduating from a state college in Arizona.</p>
<p>If you graduate with only a bachelors degree with top grades from an elite or top 25 public state university like UC Berkeley, UCLA, University of Michigan, etc. the prestigious Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs will hire you. I know of people who were recently hired by Goldman Sachs. He had a math and an economic degree from UC Berkeley and had the prerequisites to apply to medical school. He worked at Goldman Sachs for a couple of years and was later accepted to medical school. He decided to stay with Goldman Sachs because the money was too good and to later apply for an Ivy League MBA. Another person I know after getting a bachelors degree from UC Berkeley Haas Business School went to work for Lehman Bros (now defunct).</p>
<p>You’ve got a great chance to work on wall street with a business degree from University of Arizona as long as you put in the work needed to get there. We have a great business school, and I know many students who have BIG offers for full time positions on Wall Street waiting for them when they graduate - others have had internships with Goldman Sachs and other notable financial companies. One of my good friends is a finance major, and he interned at a firm in the financial district in NYC, competing for a full-time offer with a Harvard finance student - the company eventually chose the UA student (my friend) but he turned down the offer. So yes you have a great chance of going somewhere big!! Good luck</p>