Is UC-Berkeley a target school?

strengthftw · 09-03-2009, 04:58 PM

The plan was to go to a community college, transfer to Berkeley and try to move on from there... Is Berkeley at least a spot where I don't have to worry about recruiters saying why I didn't go to a better school? Or will I be able to submit my resume and recruit at whatever banks recruit there?

nauru · 09-03-2009, 05:44 PM

Do you really want to work for someone who asks you that question

herrsque · 09-04-2009, 06:50 AM

have you thought about what i-banks think about community college transfers? because i know of no person in that actual field who would not look negatively at any sort of entanglement with comm. college.

unknown quantity and all.

but i mean, berkeley is probably the next best thing in prestige after, on the west coast, a) stanford, b) pomona, c) caltech, d) claremont mckenna, and e) the rest of the claremont colleges.

Awped · 09-04-2009, 07:22 PM

My friends at Haas say very few students get into NYC ibanking...most just end up landing consulting or big 4 accounting jobs

BigMike3541 · 09-05-2009, 11:45 PM

I met one kid from Berkeley that worked at Goldman SF and one that worked at Blackstone in Menlo Park (a city near SF). I was in SF for the summer so I can't speak for Berkeley kids in NYC, but they definitely do exist in the regional offices. I imagine they do exist in NYC as well even if they aren't as well represented as the top private schools.

Never met anyone that went to a community college at one of these firms, but hey anything is possible I guess. Finance guys tend to care a LOT about pedigree though..

herrsque · 09-06-2009, 04:36 AM

"Never met anyone that went to a community college at one of these firms, but hey anything is possible I guess. Finance guys tend to care a LOT about pedigree though.. "

For good reason. Anyone remember Jerome Kerviel? He's the archetype of what happens when you ignore prestige issues.

But in all seriousness, if you want to be in banking, stay out of community college at all times. The thought that they would hire some guy who spent his first two years at a community college (i.e., unknown quantity), over hundreds of guys from Stanford, Haas, USC, and Claremont is, frankly, risible.

That's not to mention that as summer associate recruiting happens in the spring of junior year, your GPA and transcript would have, for 4 out of the 5 semesters completed, grades from community college; i.e., your GPA would be completely worthless and meaningless (how exactly are investment banks, of all people, to evaluate the value of community college grades? It's like asking NASA to judge the middle school science fair.)

Metlife · 09-06-2009, 04:59 PM

I never knew pomona or other claremont colleges are ahead of people who are in Berkeley (Haas in this case I assume)

strengthftw · 09-06-2009, 09:39 PM

Thanks for the answers everyone

I considered a community college because it gave me the best chance to get into Haas ( only ~9% chance) but I knew that if I really wanted it I could get in. Would my best option be to go to the best school I get accepted to and try to network my way in? Or go to the best school possible and try to transfer to Berkeley?

I'm assuming I'm gonna have to network my way in...

Random_Monkey · 09-07-2009, 04:58 AM

How would you go about breaking into investment banking if you went to a community college then?

Awped · 09-07-2009, 09:04 AM

Quote:

How would you go about breaking into investment banking if you went to a community college then

You try to get into a good b-school

herrsque · 09-08-2009, 05:55 AM

MetLife, Claremont colleges are #2 in prestige in Cali (excluding Mudd, which follows Caltech, which is incomparable).

Berkeley is frankly not that great. Haas is fine, I am sure; it is a wonderful and very prestigious program. But Haas isn't, and never would be, Claremont McKenna. Claremont McKenna is the closest thing one comes in Cali to super-elite biz program.

The only public school in the nation that comes to that sort of Stanford/Claremont golden standard is McIntire at UVA. Berkeley is quite a bit behind that, and frankly, it has a LOT further to fall, given Cali's budget troubles.

And in any case, the very nature of business programs precludes public schools from the very elite.

By the way (to the OP), you don't get free lunches, certainly not when it comes to banking. Stop dreaming about them. You are trying to get the biggest free lunch in the world, to get through stuff on community college and then make megabucks in banking. Think about it for a sec.

You are trying to play a bunch of senior bankers, by definition MUCH smarter than you are or I am, coming to campus for recruiting, for fools. I am not even going to try to explain what a dumb strategy that is, to try to outsmart the smartest, meanest SOB's on the planet.

Play anyone for fools, Play vice-presidents at Disney or some random Fortune 500 for fools. But the moment you can play managing directors and recruiting partners at Goldman and Morgan for fools should pretty much count as the moment hell freezes over.

Random_Monkey · 09-08-2009, 03:33 PM

Herrsque, really Berkeley is not that great? Its b-school is ranked in the top 5.

hermanns · 09-08-2009, 07:02 PM

Are all people that transfer going to be looked down upon? I transferred from a bad state school to an Ivy after 1.5 yrs and now have >3.9gpa. I will have 2 semesters of grades on my transcript when applying since I transferred midway through sophomore year. Mistakes in high school kept me from a top school, so I just stayed local and then transferred, but never had a semester <3.9 at either school. I did not try to game the system as herrsque is accusing the OP of attempting. I am just starting to get nervous after reading this thread, even though the rest of my resume outside of grades is also strong.

BigMike3541 · 09-08-2009, 09:51 PM

I wouldn't worry too much about herrsque's post. Berkeley is a very good school and as I mentioned I know a couple kids from that interned at a couple of the best financial institutions in the world.

I also don't think herrsque's view of senior bankers is totally accurate either.

herrsque · 09-09-2009, 12:38 AM

if you have 3.9+ at an ivy, there is no way anyone is gonna question your qualifications. and if you didn't game the system, the banks will see that too. you are in a way better place than where i am and where most of my friends that got jobs at good banks were (ubs, jpm, etc). if anything, people should recognize you for your hard work (transferring from big state u to ivy and acing the grades, that's legit).

i was just saying that it's ridiculous that someone who thinks he needs community college to even GO to Haas is thinking about banking at all. like i mean, seriously?

BigMike, man, try actually going through Berkeley and you'll know what I mean. Its pretty easy for your GPA to get destroyed by misanthropic professors, of which Berkeley has plenty.