I am currently trying to choose between Stanford and Princeton. I want to eventually go into a career on wall street, so I was wondering, do east coast firms like jp morgan recruit at Stanford? If I wanted to intern somewhere, would it be possible to get internships on the east coast, or would I mostly have to stick to the west coast? Would I have better opportunities at Stanford or Princeton?
East coast firms do recruit at Stanford (and I’m pretty positive I’ve specifically talked to JP Morgan at a career fair before). While most of the CS majors stay in California for summer, the majority of internships advertised to us are actually in California, New York and DC. You definitely wouldn’t have to stick to the west coast. The main thing to consider is transport if they want you to interview in person at the headquarters. Places I interviewed with in the past would always cover my flight, food, and hotel on the east coast. I’ve actually made money on those trips because their stipends are so generous. Really we hear about hundreds of job opportunities on the east coast and, at least in my experience, it’s not too hard to get a job out-of-state.
Basically, you should be able to get a job at a firm on the east coast from either school. Princeton has the advantage of being closer to where a lot of on-site interviews happen for the east coast. I’d assume that smaller east coast firms recruit at Princeton and not Stanford (and vice versa for smaller west coast firms). The really big ones recruit at both. Really if you’re deciding between the two schools the biggest difference is atmosphere/feel.
Since they are both top schools, I pretty sure they get recruited on similar levels by top large finance firms.
It makes sense to attend Princeton if you’re completely sure you want a career in finance. Princeton has a history of sending a large proportion of its students to Wall Street. Stanford students have always been “nonconformists”.
Are you 100% sure you want to do finance on Wall Street? It seems very early to be set on that career path.
Stanford will get you to wall street if you want, but few will deny that Princeton has been a Wall Street feeder for decades. If you’re 100% sure on Wall Street go to Princeton.
You would have comparable opportunities at both. Maybe since not as many Stanford kids aim for the traditional Wall Street path as Princeton kids, you might even face less competition at Stanford. There is no denying that you will have excelent Wall Street opportunities at Stanford.