<p>Hello,
I have heard nothing but good things about Middlebury - everyone I know who is into the whole small-LAC scene in the college search falls in love with the school. All this positive feedback has piqued my interest, and I am considering applying. However, I am interested in getting into Finance/Investment banking. Obviously, Middlebury has no business school, and is essentially in the middle of nowhere, but I have heard it has an extremely respectable economics program which is probably something I would want to major in if I were to go to a LAC. Does anyone have any experiences with on-campus recruiting, network, etc.?
Thanks.</p>
<p>I have one employee who graduated from Midd in 2001. He is engaged in selling residential mortgages, and basically did that since college, but I have never asked him directly how Midd contributed to his choice of career. He possesses terrific communication skills and people skills, as well as very sound analytical reasoning. I hope/assume he developed those skills at Midd (hope/assume because my daughter is now applying there). He did mention that his wife (also Midd alum) did the study abroad program in Germany, which was a huge factor in her landing a job at Deutsche Bank. I realize this doesn’t answer your question directly, but my impression is that, like many excellent LACs, Midd gives a solid foundation in many areas that can be used in a variety of fields, including business.</p>
<p>Middlebury alums are well represented on Wall Street.</p>
<p>Economics is supposedly the most popular major at Middlebury and the Department is very well thought of. Do a search in this forum for “economics” and you will see some recent threads. Because of Midd’s strong international studies and environmental studies majors, one student points out that a number of economics faculty members are active in those programs which fosters interdisciplinary opportunities that might not be as prevalent at other LACs.</p>
<p>Middlebury does a fantastic job getting its students into top Business Schools. It’s considered a feeder school for Dartmouth’s Tuck School, but is well-represented at plenty of other top B Schools. There are PLENTY of on-campus recruiters. I was an art history student and even I had Wall Street businesses contacting me because they said art history majors were good researchers. Being at Midd is certainly no hinderance to getting into Financial firms.</p>
<p>idontjoke. I think the question you are asking is a very valid and good one to ask if you already know your career interests. I graduated from Midd in 09, right at the height of the crisis. Studying Econ and Math (both of which are really great departments with awesome professors), I couldn’t have asked for better preparations working at an ibank. While you have to remember that we are a LAC and not a business school, ibanks don’t expect you to know all the financial terms right off the bat, which is why they put you through summer training programs. At Middlebury, you learn to be a good learner, analyzing information critically, but coming up with innovative solutions. At the end of the day, that’s all you need to know (of course it helps to be quantitatively-inclined and a quick thinker). Plus, ibanks need people who can handle pressure, long hours, little sleep, multitask etc. all of which you will learn at Middlebury.
In respect to the recruiting, we actually have a great Careers Services who are very helpful in getting your ready for interviews (building resumes/cover letters, prepping with mock interviews) and one of the things they focus on specifically are jobs in Finance. We used to (I don’t know how true that is now, but I think it is improving again) have pretty much all the major bulge brackets come up to campus or at least interview over the phone for summer and full-time positions. Unfortunately, with the crisis, that slowed quite a bit, perhaps more so than at Ivies. Plenty of my friends and other alumns work at JPM, GS, MS, CS, BarCap (ex-Lehman), UBS etc. There is a strong alumni network on Wall Street and people are usually very happy to help out/give advice when you get in touch with them (I have probably met up to 60 alumns like that just through sending them an email), as Middlebury still seems like a very close-knit community. Our network is definitely not as big and strong as perhaps Harvard’s or Princeton’s (Yale’s), but by the time you graduate this really shouldn’t be a problem in terms of finding a job at a bank. Going to H/P/Y will likely improve your chances of getting an ibank job (although the competition there is also bigger), but I think you will get a better well-rounded education at Midd which, in the end, makes you a more interesting person/candidate.</p>