(Selective/Moderately Selective) US Schools Offering Finance -- Your Thoughts After Campus Visits

College Majors Business Major
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I have a Mid-Atlantic female selective private school junior who is whittling down her list of colleges and universities. She has an overly large spreadsheet of 45 US universities and colleges offering Finance as a Degree, Major or Concentration/Specialization.

Her list includes some very selective schools (6-15% admit rate to the undergraduate business school) all the way down to somewhat less selective schools (40-50% admit rate to the undergraduate business school). She is fortunately not fixated on Ivies or T-20 schools.

Her 529 college plan is fully funded, so she does not need to chase merit and she can attend the school of her choice.

We hope she will soon get her list down so we can start visiting schools. We were wondering if older students considering finance/now majoring in finance or their parents would be willing to share their own recent experiences.

Basically, the student is interested in learning things about these schools/programs that wouldn’t pop up in US News and World Reports or Poets & Quants or Common Data Set etc. She has mined the data pretty heavily and is now poking around on the school websites.

(Do not worry about which specific 45 schools are on her list as it does shift a bit week to week and it includes many of the schools one would think about for finance.)

-What really surprised or impressed you about the school or finance program?
-Was there one thing that made the student fall in love with the school or finance program?
-Are any of these Business-Finance programs undergoing radical changes and what were your thoughts?
-Does the school or program have some extra “something special” that most people do not know about?
-For schools with Co-ops/Formal Internship programs, what are your thoughts.
-What about the Business-Finance clubs, organizations, and honors programs?
-Are there special programs or opportunities for Women in Finance/Business at the school?
-Is there something you could share about the Global/International Business opportunities?
-Has the experience lived up to the student’s expectations if the student attended?
-Would the student have gone elsewhere knowing X?

And please feel free to share other things not listed above.

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We started with 109 - so 45 doesn’t seem overly large :slight_smile:

Once you visit schools, you will see some come off the list quickly - because if you go to one in the boonies, and she hates that - then you can take all similar off. If she goes to one that’s too small
etc. etc. 45 is not too many. You can always visit locally to start - you can measure size, do they like urban, suburban, etc. Many kids think they have desires - but after visiting a few, those desires quickly change. Some even judge aesthetics - some like the look of Duke (lots of stone), others don’t but like the clean red brick of an Alabama.

I suggest you set her up with a college email - I don’t know her name but we used my kids name, hs nick name (Indy for Independence) and 21 (her graduation year - but whatever you use - indyjen25@gmail.com type thing. Go onto all 45 “request info” and sign up. You’ll get info, eventually fee waivers, and the like - again, we started 109. I managed it - and as we cut, I unsubscribed.

As for cost, that’s ALWAYS personal - but depending on career desires, you may not have to over overspend. I spent less than half the 529. It’s a problem I suppose - but a good problem. So if you’re ok at $90K, it’s great. But if you find a fit at $40K and have money left over - that’s a better scenario (at least in some people’s eyes).

I can’t speak to finance specifically - but if it’s not Wall Street, they’ll likely be employable from most anywhere - unless AI kills that. I think what I would look into is - what type of “special” programs do they have. For example, most have Honors colleges - but some go deeper. At an Alabama, they have Randall Research and Blount Scholars. At College of Charleston, they have the Charleston Fellows and International Scholars. These are all “subsets” of Honors colleges. At a U of SC or UMD, they have different levels of Honors type programs.

You’ll also have colleges (top colleges) with huge classes and others with small classes, even in the gen ed.

I see one of your questions is global - so you know U of SC is tops but my daughter is an International Scholar at Charleston. She chose it over U of SC honors. It requires a double major - but that works well with finance - that’s back to - are there special programs because it’s a co hort within the Honors College - so it’s small. And the classes at her school are all small - Honors or otherwise - whereas you might have hundreds at a larger school in an intro class - so that’s the kind of thing your student should think about


I’d also note - when you look at average salaries - look at for where they are. But for someone who wants to work in the finance office of my company (a foreign automaker) - where they go won’t matter - whether UGA or MTSU or UC Irvine or Oklahoma. But if you want to be on Wall Street, etc. - it might matter.

Given the interests of your child - schools that come to mind - strong in International and Business - U of SC, IU, Ole Miss, U of Denver and more.

But I think you don’t need to study international business to get a job in a field with international exposure - as there are tons of foreign companies here or companies that have a lot of their revenue coming from overseas. But if you do study international business, you’ll need to be ready to embrace another language as well.

It’s a bit on target but because neither kid majors in business, that’s not a ton of direct I can add - but as a business person (not finance but deals daily with finance), I have at least that perspective.

Good luck.

PS - here’s some schools so you can compare - and note the geographic discrepancies at an IU which really show you why some make more (it costs more). I put schools in an array of rankings - to show outcomes. Most companies, btw, pay similarly regardless of school because their jobs have a range. I would make sure you are comparing apples to apples - some report base salaries - but some put in signing bonus or expected annual bonus to inflate them. They should tell you what they’re doing.

I would also be cautious about what you read in rankings - or perhaps you missed the WSJ ones of last week - I’ll put that thread below for you so you can see the zaniness - schools like NJIT and FIU rated 3rd and 4th in the country amongst publics (sorry Michigan, UVA, UCLA, UT, William & Mary, Wisconsin, etc

Salary Statistics: Statistics: Undergraduate Career Services: Recruiters & Corporate Relations: Kelley School of Business: Indiana University (iu.edu)

Undergraduate Placement - Syracuse University Whitman School of Management

Haslam Undergraduate Outcomes : Career Management & Recruiting - Haslam College of Business (utk.edu)

Overview (tcu.edu)

Ranking: Wall Street Journal’s 2024 Best Colleges In America (yahoo.com)

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I have two finance majors (one graduated in 2017). My oldest was admitted to Kenan Flagler at UNC-CH after her sophomore year. Very tough admit and only a select few are offered direct admit. KF provided amazing opportunities for her with many prominent corporations coming in to speak, women in business clubs and recruitment opportunities, internship opportunities and networking that led to the internship/job offer pathway. She did not want to be on Wall Street but took an analyst job at a very large bank, was eventually promoted to VP. She has since moved on to a higher tier bank and is in a VP role in the technology sector. Very smooth path for her coming out of KF. All of her KF classmates are also doing very well in their careers.

Younger daughter, who is a real estate/finance double major did not want to have to compete to get into a college and then compete again to get into a business program at that college, so she focused on direct admit programs. She is a junior at Virginia Tech in their Pamplin school of business and has been able to take business, real estate and finance courses since her first semester freshman year (older daughter couldn’t get business courses until after being admitted to KF). I’ve been very impressed with the opportunities my younger d has had at VT. She is getting all the same opportunities as my older d as far as women in business recruiting opportunities and many other internship opportunities. Pamplin just had it’s “Business Horizons” internship & job fair and all the companies there want to hire VT students (many send VT alumni to the fair). My d did an internship this past summer at a commercial real estate firm and is currently going through the recruiting and interviewing process for next summer. Recruiters have been impressed that she has already had many finance classes (and she said that it did help her in her internship this past summer). She also has no desire to go the Wall Street route, so no pressure there.

Prominent programs like KF can definitely have a leg up on recognition and that can get you to the top of the pile - but I have been impressed that my younger d is being invited to many of the same recruiting events as my older d (younger d has a high GPA, which I think also helps bump her up).

Another thing to consider when looking for a finance program is where your daughter thinks she ultimately wants to settle. If she chooses Haslam at UTK for example but wants to end up in NYC, it will likely take more effort on her part to reach out to NYC companies, as many of the recruitment opportunities at UTK may center around Knoxville/Nashville and surrounding cities/states. My VT kid is finding that many of her opportunities are in Washington DC or Richmond. Not a deal killer for sure, but just something to keep in mind.

Another factor that has worked well for both kids is a strong alumni network. If the alumni love their school, they are eager to pay it forward with opportunities for current students.

Getting admitted to a ranked business/finance program can definitely open doors but despite all the hyperbole, it’s not the only way to get there and much depends on the drive/hustle of the student. Good luck with the search!

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While neither of my kids is a business major, I truly believe this matters more than anything else.

One kid turned down an elite engineering school for a low ranked one -had 5 offers by xmas, 6 including his internship and 20 interviews - but it was done on his own. And he works with kids from the same elite school he turned down.

And my daughter interned for the state last summer and is DC this Fall at a top think tank - has orientation today in fact - and had 7 offers in DC, 5 paid - in supposedly an environment that is brutally hard to get a job.

Both my kids chose their safeties of all schools - just what they liked best - and both, by busting tail, are in good places - one employed and one doing the DC semester during the start of her junior year.

It’s exactly what you say - much depends on the drive and hustle. They sent out a gazillion resumes to get to these places. One is heavily involved on campus (like your daughters it sounds), the other - ehhhhh - just a little.

There are kids, according to linkedin, from Pamplin - in NYC Wall Street like jobs. With drive and hustle, anything is possible - personally, I truly believe that.

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An investment banking analyst position at a bulge bracket (BB) or middle market (BB) bank after undergraduate school is extremely competitive and hard to get. There are less than 1,000 positions annually at the BB banks, and a similar number at the MM level. I think I read that Goldman had 230,000 applications for about 250 positions a couple of years ago. Almost all those jobs are filled with students from Ivies, Ivy plus, and a small number of other “target” and “semi-target” schools. The Ivy students don’t usually have business degrees. Your daughter’s chance of getting an IB internship that leads to a job offer trails off considerably if she isn’t at one of those schools

NYC is still the epicenter of IB, and most of the top kids end up there. Students must start networking at the beginning of their sophomore year, making daily cold calls to alumni at different firms and then broadening out to referrals from those calls. It’s a grind and a lot to handle, especially with a finance major’s academic workload.

Internships are awarded during the summer of students’ sophomore year for the following summer, and most get return offers depending on the IB market. Return offers were lower than normal this summer.

Wealth management, sales and trading, capital markets, back-office, etc. positions are other options for finance majors and more likely destinations if at a non-target school. It really does make a difference where one goes to school for IB jobs.

DS is a senior finance major and an incoming IB analyst next summer at a NYC BB bank. His school environment (B-School, fraternity, business organizations, alumni) has been very helpful in his journey. Feel free to PM me with any questions.

This is a great discussion on CC about the entire process: Want a Career in Banking? Ask a Senior Banking Exec - #6 by Catcherinthetoast

Wall Street Oasis is another reliable source of information, but it might be a bit much for a high school student.

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Go visit a few local schools. She’ll start to figure out if she prefers urban, rural, big, small etc.

We also took off schools that weren’t direct admission to B-school. Especially holistic admissions like UNC and UVA. Picking a backup major wasn’t appealing and Econ is not the same as Finance.

If she’s interested in International Business take a look at South Carolina and Georgia Tech.

If she wants Wall Street then the advice above is good. Go to a target school.

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Yes, my student removed the few schools which were not direct admit. She wanted to make sure that she would receive her preferred major.

She also did not include schools which only offered Economics.

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Going to DM you.

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I acknowledged that certain careers - there is a boost and as you noted - it’s still hard. And many of these students aren’t studying business / finance that are getting those jobs.

We don’t know anything about what this student is interested in. Well judging by she will DM you - I guess we now do.

And I simply noted - one isn’t shut out - it’s more difficult - but when kids hustle, it’s possible. I don’t see anyone at the Think Tank my daughter is interning at without a NU, Johns Hopkins, etc. but there she is.

My son got a call by Jane Street Capital - day after applying.

Even at a top school, you need grit and hustle. But if someone wants something bad enough, they can find a way.

But again - so as to not derail the thread - the initial point was - it’s hard to guide because we don’t know what OP is looking for other than what they stated - and that’s what my initial answers were to


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This student has identified Finance as her preferred concentration but has not yet settled on a specific career path.

We were following up with the other poster on target and semi-target schools–the schools she has been trying to figure out using data she can find.

One thing she still has not done is check each website to see if she can find out which companies visit campus for recruitment.

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Your D can call the career centers and ask for this info. She can also look at the school’s outcomes reports, sometimes called First Destinations report. On campus recruiting is still not what it was pre-pandemic. It’s not unimportant of course, but alum network is greater IMO.

I also have a D currently working in IB. She says that her firm specifically does not prefer business majors for IB analyst roles (that is not necessarily the situation for other banking analyst roles in that firm, nor does it mean there are no finance majors among the IB staff). They prefer economics, stem, other social sciences/humanities majors (my D was a neuroscience major/econ minor). What students do need, regardless of the major, are strong quant skills. I will call @catcherinthetoast to comment, as they have a broader perspective of the banking industry than I do. Definitely read their AMA thread linked above.

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And it’s ok. Most don’t likely even know what these career paths are or entail.

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Thank you for the shout out @marrast and @Mwfan1921. I will however suggest the OP direct message me if I can help.

I don’t want to publicly debate or contradict those expressing different opinions based upon their kids experiences, opinions or personal “research”.

I would caution you about the sources and quality of the advice you ultimately embrace as Wall Street does have a very specific culture and approach to recruiting.

OP for context, I am currently the CEO of a large corporate and investment bank. I have been in CEO roles at similar global institutions for over a decade and an I banker at several bulge bracket firms for over 3 decades running various businesses or divisions. These credentials have been validated by CC.

Lastly I will base any advice on the class of 35+ undergraduate analysts we recruited and welcomed 3 weeks ago.

Please let me know directly if I can help.

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Catcher- I respect your preference NOT to publicly contradict- but there are some instances where your wisdom is really needed.

“It’s better to pick the major (finance) than the college (Williams)”. “It doesn’t matter where you go as long as you have a 3.9 GPA, so graduating from Rowan is a better decision than graduating from Swarthmore”. “Other than M&A, banks aren’t concerned with prestige”.

There’s a LOT of misinformation on CC!

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I will DM you.

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Oh, I do not think I am able to DM you. Are you able to message me?

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Done😀

Yep!

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I would say there are a lot of differing opinions.

There are some factual mis statements - with data.

But other things are not 100% - and people typically note this.

No one should be told at 17 - this isn’t possible unless you go here or study this - and that’s what many continue to say - and factually, it’s not correct. It may be in many and most cases - but we speak in absolutes - and there are none - unless specific data is being mis reported, etc.

In the case of IB, for example, there are 30 schools on the feeder list but there are graduates from more than 30 schools in reality in the industry. And people like to always quote Fordham - and they’re not on any list I’ve seen - and they’re not the only one.

So I don’t think we should dismiss what people say - whether or not they are in an industry. Even people in industry have “their” perspective.

This isn’t to say - the path is easy (even from a top school) but it’s also not impossible if you don’t hit one of eight schools, etc.

So misinformation - as I think you’re trying to use it - wouldn’t be the appropriate word - at least in my opinion.

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There are a lot of jobs one can do with a major in finance or in that ballpark. If the goal is IB, DM catcher. @DarkMatter565 is in asset management and can offer some advise as well and @blossom is a recruiter. All have great wisdom to share. There is yet another AMA from another individual that I forget that has more of a tech role. Perhaps someone could point OP?

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I believe that was @DadOfJerseyGirl

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