<p>Hey, </p>
<p>I am really interested in Investment banking. I was wondering about the specifications or qualifications to earn a job in investment banking. If I don't attend a top school, instead attend (University of Wisconsin-10th in finance,35th overall) and earn a 4.0 GPA, will it help me more for the future (if I get a investment banking job) rather than a Harvard 3.7 with a 150K debt?</p>
<p>honestly neither will help you per se. It will really depend on how good you are at investment banking. However, the Harvard 3.7 will lead to more connections and probably get a first job quicker but if you graduate from anywhere with a 4.0, your application isn’t getting thrown out at any firm. Personally, I think I would go to the place where I was going to learn more and I wouldn’t be surprised if you actually learned more at UW</p>
<p>I definitely agree with broncosfan.
But I think UW sounds better, and so does avoiding the 150k worth of debt.</p>
<p>I think if it was UW compared to say Umich or even Duke it I’d go there, but I could never pass up Harvard…</p>
<p>3.7 at Harvard and your options are pretty much unlimited. </p>
<p>Can’t say that about Wisconsin, even a 4.0 at Wisconsin.</p>
<p>Is it worth going to Harvard with a 3.7, becoming a investment banker and receiving the benefits and having a $100-150K debt? Or is it better to just be a UW Madison undergraduate with a 4.0 with a 10K “surplus”?</p>
<p>If you’ve got a 3.7 from Harvard there are so many better options than becoming an investment banker.</p>
<p>Woah, too many bad replies in this forum. First off, Harvard is by far the better school if you want to land a role in investment banking. Harvard has tons of alum and it is highly recruited and therefore a top target for banks. Whether or not you are good at banking can only be determined once you get the job and there are tons of students that don’t come from a business background that ultimately become good at the job. While wisconsin is a great school it is not nearly recruited as heavily from Ibanks, PE firms, Consulting firms, or Hedge funds as Harvard. Think about it this way if Goldman Sachs comes to both schools for investment banking summer analysts they would take 10-12 kids from Harvard and maybe 2-4 from Wisconsin.</p>
<p>If you have the choice of booth and you are absolutely sure you want to do banking ( which i find hard as you are still in HS) then CHOOSE Harvard.</p>
<p>Either you get finaid or your parents are rich. How can you run 150k of debt at Ivies, Stanford, MIT, and Duke? You can’t run 150k of debt unless you have stingy parents who won’t even invest in your future.</p>
<p>I agree with what ixjunitxi said. Goldman Sachs recruits between 10+ students for top entry IBD positions at each of the following: Ivies, Stanford, MIT, and Duke. It recruits 1 at Madison in a good year. Elite schools (Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Duke, etc.) and non-elite schools (even one as fine as UW-Madison) are just not the same. You have to attend one to experience the difference, especially when it comes to getting offers for internships and jobs from elite banks and law firms.</p>
<p>If debt were not an issue, Harvard Hands down is the place to get the job from.</p>
<p>But a 3.7 there will certainly get you interviews (which a 4.0 from Wisc may well not) but will not assure you a job. If you’re not the type banks are looking for, and there are types, you could easily end up with $150K in debt and no banking job.</p>
<p>Ya this is silly. IvyPBear is right, it won’t be possible to rack up 150K debt unless your parents don’t want to pay for anything. Also someone above mentioned that Harvard might get 10-15 whereas wisconsin might get 2-4. Try more like harvard will get 30-40 and wisconsin might get 1. I don’t know about harvard but I know that Goldman sachs alone hired 32 people from Stanford 2 years ago (across all divisions, not just banking), and there are obviously a lot more firms than GS that recruit at stanford.</p>
<p>The main thing to keep in mind is that someone with a 3.0 from wisconsin could do banking just as well as someone with a 4.0 from harvard. It’s all a prestige game. Once you are smart ENOUGH, you just have to do the dance to convince them that you “fit in” and you are officially in banking. It’s going to be hard to convince a bunch of college grads from the top 5 or so schools that someone from Wisconsin should join them.</p>
<p>IvyPBear,</p>
<p>Please don’t throw generalities out like that. What you said about the 150k debt is completely not true. I know of many friends at those schools that you have mention who have had to take out 150k loans to pay for tuition. It’s not because they are stingy, it’s because the financial aid process at the schools do not consider previous loans. Thus, there are many families who have to pay the full-bumper sticker price.</p>
<p>This usually happy to middle-class families who have recently bought a house. (first house) So please don’t assume.</p>
<p>dude2009 - It seems that you have not kept up with time. Most Ivies (including HYP, Dartmouth, etc) have eliminated all loans from their finaid package. Granted, they still give you loans for laptop, health insurance, etc., but I doubt laptops and health insurance plans can get you anywhere over 10000 in debt over four years. And yes, they consider your parents’ house, loans, etc. and adjust accordingly.</p>
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<p>That’s total BS. The largest global investment banks – JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, etc. – all recruit from Harvard and have been known to hire humanities majors straight out of college, often people who’ve had little to no experience in the financial services industry.</p>
<p>IvyPBear - Like I said, you do not understand the process at all. I am currently at one of those schools and you do not seem to grasp a subtle denotation in the language used. </p>
<p>The colleges have removed all loans for people that they deem are eligible for financial aid. I, like many others not deemed eligible for financial aid still need my parents to take out loans to pay for tuition. And the reason is NOT that my parents are stingy. It is because the colleges when calculating financial aid, do not take into account previous loans taken out. They “consider” loans taken out for houses, but it is minimal at best. I’ll give you an estimate for my friend. He parents currently earn about 15k a month, which places him far above financial aid eligibility. (That sounds a lot, until you take into account taxes and loans) After taxes (State and Federal) it’s around 8k a month. Then take into account loans for the house (4k a month). That’s 4k for living expenses and tuition.</p>
<p>Please don’t generalize.</p>
<p>top GPA at a top school, obviously.</p>
<p>Almost no parents can pay tuition out of current paychecks. If they have $15K a month income, they are supposed to have saved some money to pay tuition. If they have no savings, then they need to sell other assets. If they have spent all their money, then you have to blame them for living beyond their means.</p>
<p>i would say someone with a 2.0 at harvard has a better shot than 4.0 at wisconsin, assuming that he leverages all the advantages of harvard. i think this goes for all other top targets like wharton, princeton, and yale. transfering to a school like cornell, columbia, duke, northwestern, stern, or uchicago after your sophomore year at wis might be a good idea.</p>
<p>^^ Absolutely false</p>
<p>dude, you have no idea… just don’t explicitly state your GPA on the resume . harvard just has so many alumni on wall street, hence, it shouldn’t be hard to find someone at any bank to push for you. for the interviews you just have to make up some excuse for your gpa, and prove through other accomplishments that you are hard working and so on. the 4.0 from wis however will land in the stack with 5000 other non-target resumes and prolly wont ever be looked at. I have some experience with ibanking in Chicago and can say that wisconsin is not represented at all.</p>