<p>I'm a high school senior deciding between Harvard, Princeton, and Yale for college. In high school, I'm one of the top students in math in the country, but I don't think I can tackle a research career in pure math. After reading some material in economics, I think finance is a more suitable career option. Since Yale is relatively weak in math comparing to H and P, my choice will be between H and P, unless something really changes my mind during my visit next week.</p>
<p>I was doing some research these days, and found out that the degrees offered by Harvard do not suit my needs. For example, there is no joint concentration (double major) in Econ, Math, Applied Math, or Stats. My intended major, Applied Math, does not even allow a secondary concentration (minor). So essentially, I will choose between taking a large number of pure math courses to get a (pure) math major, or get the not-so-quantitative Econ major, forgoing my strength in math. On the other hand, the Princeton ORFE degree, with a certificate in Finance, sounds like a perfect match.</p>
<p>That being said, I still drool after the prestige of the Harvard name and love the Boston and Cambridge community. Since I heard Harvard has the best placement record on the IB recruit market, I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a degree option for a Harvard IBanker-wannabe. Also, any input on the strength of the ORFE/Finance program would be great.</p>
<p>JohnAdams - whilst Princeton may not be seen as above Harvard on the street, it has been said that there are firms which exclusively recruit from both Harvard and Wharton only - in other words, Harvard and Wharton are seen as the ‘top tier’ in that they have more opportunities. </p>
<p>I was just wondering how true this was in your experience/knowledge?</p>
<p>Undergraduates from both schools mate. I’m in a similar dilemma (as to which College to choose), and people have said some firms like Silver Lake (the PE house) only recruit from Harvard and Wharton for example and that in general, Harvard and Wharton students have more opportunities than say other schools. </p>
<p>Just wondering how much of this is actually true, as the ORFE programme at Princeton seems pretty damn awesome.</p>
<p>Shawking, can we chat privately over facebook or something? Our preferences are pretty darn similar - awesome tailored program (ORFE) vs huge prestige name.</p>
<p>Also, JohnAdams, I’ve seen that list. The % of grads going into BB is very good, but do you know how the numbers compare to Harvard? Also, since I’m a bit more quant-oriented, do you know how the ORFE, or some similar program at Harvard, fares at hedge fund/S&T placement?
Thanks!!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>take a look again at where the Princeton ORFE students were placed and those, of course, weren’t the only ones that went into Investment Banking and Money Management…</p></li>
<li><p>ask yourself, other than this Silver Lake firm, who else would only concentrate on Harvard and Wharton undergraduates and exclude Princeton?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>sincerely</p>
<p>Princeton BSChE.
Stanford MBA
Investment Banker</p>
<p>As someone headed to finance after graduation, I’d like to say that four years of college later, I feel comfortable saying that, at the end of the day, all this fretting about the right major is irrelevant, as is the fretting about the right school. </p>
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<p>The one quick note I’d make is that I’ve seen firms that recruit only at W, and I’ve seen firms that recruit at HPW. To date, I’ve never seen a firm that recruits only at Princeton but not Harvard or only Harvard but not Princeton. I can think of one or two that recruit at HP but not W, but those are more the exceptions.</p>
<p>(By the way, connections aside, Silver Lake recruits undergraduates only at Wharton. Don’t be sad; the vast majority of top PE/VC firms continue to love H/P grads!)</p>
<p>What does this mean for you?</p>
<p>My advice for someone looking to go into finance (and deciding between schools of comparable caliber) would be to go to the school where you see yourself thriving. There’s a very practical reason why: when you’re talking about careers out of Harvard v. Princeton v. MIT or the like, the extent to which stronger academic performance or a stronger leadership position matters will trump the name of your school ten times out of ten. So the question you should be asking yourself is: where am I likely to perform at my best? And generally speaking, the answer to that is the school at which you feel most comfortable at when you visit, something that naturally differs from person to person. This is a fuzzy answer, but truly the honest one.</p>
<p>Also, this isn’t said often enough in the investment banking forum, but it’s frankly something of a bad idea to think of your college years as merely a feeder for your career. If your goal is to be the next Robert Rubin or Carl Icahn or David Rubenstein, it helps to remember than most of these guys were never really “finance types” during their college years. Rubin, after Harvard, sort of wandered around Europe randomly before deciding to go to law school simply because he ran out of money. Icahn was a passionate philosophy student at Princeton. Rubenstein spent over a decade in politics before starting the Carlyle Group. Each of these people became finance rock stars not because they were determined to go into finance, but because they spent their college years trying to sharpen their brains. Nor are they exceptions - it’s rather rare to see the executives of top firms be people who studied economics or business in college.</p>
<p>I don’t think you should make your college decision based on which school allows better/more direct access to your future career. Because for all you know, you might not even want to go into investment banking 2 or 4 years from now. Keep an open mind. Enjoy your undergrad experience at the school that you choose. I don’t think I (or most people) know of anybody that didn’t get a job simply because his degree was from princeton and not harvard, or vice versa. A degree from either school can only accelerate you go into whatever career that you want to pursue. I don’t think job placement rankings can tell the whole story because each person and his/her qualifications are individualized. And please don’t choose the school based on your d-bag rating radar or something like that. Although reading your description, you seem to already lean towards choosing princeton. </p>
<p>When you go visit, consider factors like location, community, FIT, and if the administration understand/fit your needs. If you go around asking about IB job placements in these places, the answers would probably be all over the place—because there really isn’t any disadvantage in attending either institution. If the major choosing thing at Harvard is really true, don’t cut yourself thin by choosing a major with the intention that it will help you in landing jobs. 20 years --or even 10, 5 or 1 year-- from when you graduate, you wouldn’t be still dwelling on the fact that you chose Harvard over Princeton. Put aside what prestige others see in who issued your degree, it’s YOUR own peace of mind that really matters. That means that you are satisfied with your college experience, with little what if’s, could’ves, should’ves. </p>
<p>I leave you with these words:
是福不是祸，是祸躲不过。Just let it be. Getting into HPY is a fu. IB career will be yours if it’s meant to be yours. You know where to find me if you need to talk.</p>
<p>In my opinion looking at everything I would classify Harvard as a higher target because I’ve seen Harvard place more students in IB and they are more highly recruited for IB jobs because they tend to put out more high end students (these two factors enhance one another). </p>
<p>However, I think that this is largely because many more Harvard students are interested in pursuing IB. When visiting the campus for admit day, it seemed like everyone and their mother was either set on becoming the next President of the US, a doctor, or (large percentage) an IB’er. </p>
<p>Princeton on the other hand tends to be between H and Y, where there are definitely students interested in doing Finance, but there are also a lot more students interested in fields in the humanities and research. I dont think P is any less capable of spitting out excellent candidates for IB than is Harvard. </p>
<p>In the end, if you do well at either school, you’ll do fine in recruitment. Go to the school where you feel you’ll fit in the most and have the best time over the next four years.</p>