Any underrated schools for Wall St recruiting?

College Search & Lists
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Hi, I’m a senior and I’m looking to apply to the following schools:
Reaches
Barnard College
Colgate University
Boston College
Lehigh University
Lafayette College
Carleton College
University of Richmond
Vassar College
Smith College

Matches
Union College
College of the Holy Cross
University of Indiana (Bloomington)
Villanova University
Dickinson College

I need help trimming down the list to 6 reaches 4 matches or 5 reaches and keep the 5 matches. I see myself at a liberal arts college and will major in economics and minor in biology or statistics, depending on the course interests. I know these schools aren’t “business” focused, but many LACs are underrated for recruiting for Wall Street. I’m a URM with fairly decent grades (would range from the 25-50% percentiles for stats of the reach schools) and 75%+ percentiles for stats for the matches.
I read on another thread on WSO that Vassar and Carleton don’t do well because the students are “save the world” types, even though they are academically ranked higher than other schools. There were many mentions of NESCAC and Patriot league schools, so that accounts for Colgate, Lehigh, Lafayette. But what about Barnard College and Smith College? I’m applying ED to Barnard and EDII to Colgate, but if Barnard isn’t a good idea, I’m applying ED to Colgate! Also can anyone confirm the statements about Carleton and Vassar?

If you have other recommendations, please do tell! I am still working on the right safeties.

Thank you!

UPDATE: I got some recommendations from others to take off Vassar and Smith. I’m considering taking off Boston College because admissions is a crapshoot with all the Harvard/MIT people applying to BC as a “safety”…
I also didn’t know that the stereotypical UR student was white, preppy, snobby, etc. so I’ll have to take it off my list.

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If u want to avoid white, preppy, snobby people, u might have to take almost every decent school in the Northeast off your list.

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“I read on another thread on WSO that Vassar and Carleton don’t do well because the students are “save the world” types, even though they are academically ranked higher than other schools.”

I’d say its more a lack of interest in Wall Street jobs rather than “don’t do well”. There’s a difference.

How about Wellesley?

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I don’t think Vassar and Carleton are fantastic for Wall Street recruiting.

5

If the OP graduates from any of the schools on her list she will be able to get interviews on Wall Street. Wall Street firms are seeking women and seeking blacks so even if the Wall Street firms do not recruit on campus she should be OK.

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Why does white+preppy=snobby?
Visited many of those schools and while some seemed to have a good portion (though not exclusively) preppy types, I didn’t pick up a snobby vibe at any.
Don’t be so quick to paint schools with such a broad brush

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You should also look to add a safety. Hard to tell without your stats, but Union , Dickinson and Indiana, may be safeties. Lehigh, Lafayette, Richmond are more like the match schools you have on your list

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Honestly, you can get a investment/financial services job from any college. Focus on having meaningful summer work/internship experiences. And I do agree that being in an underrepresented group can work to your advantage in gaining access both to summer experiences and post-grad opportunities.

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@doschicos My kids wanted a school with diversity in the student body - different socioeconomic groups, different styles (not overwhelmingly preppy), a mix of ethnic and racial groups. Richmond wouldn’t have been of interest to them

Richmond meets 100% full need - meaning there is a lot of socioeconomic diversity. 25% are students of color and 13% 1st gen, so there is a mix of ethnicities. It also has a huge endowment for a school of its size and spends some of that money supporting and funding activities for students ie; finding computers, cultural trips, internships etc.
I will say the school looks like a country club, but looks can be deceiving. I think the school actually does a better job of supporting diversity than schools that ‘look’ more diverse.

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@wisteria100 I agree. We found URichmond very diverse and not at all snobby or preppy.

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@wisteria100 I didn’t mean to present it in a bad light. The statement was based on the student responses (the pictures are anonymous) from another college-related website. Yes, these responses are biased, but in most of the comments, UR students are portrayed as white, rich, preppy, and/or snobby. I want to attend a school that is multi-culturally and socioeconomically diverse but even if not, that the diverse students work well with white students.
I’ll consider keeping UR but it is a southern school and could be very conservative. True?

I am invited to attend the multi-cultural visitation programs at Colgate (attending), Carleton (attending), and Davidson (not attending) so those schools have a focus on making their student body more diverse.

I’ll look into Wellesley however, my friends who went on a campus tour said the students looked unhappy there and didn’t reach out to say hi like students from other campus tours would. A school friend is at Wellesley now and she doesn’t like it. I’m getting all these bad vibes from Wellesley that I never checked it out!

@doschicos I have a 92 GPA but I’m working hard senior year for colleges to notice the upward trend. I have a 1460 on the new SAT and a 32 superscore on the ACT. I do many extracurriculars etc. I don’t know what constitutes a “match” or “safety”; do your stats have to be in the 75%+ range to be a safety?
Thank you!

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@penngirlpending Safeties are defined by different posters on cc differently, but a good start would be for your stats/gpa/test scores to be above the 75% mark + a school with an admit rate of greater than 40-50%, plus a school that is affordable.
Your SAT is strong. Not all the schools on you list will superscore the ACT, so you may be better off sending the SAT.
Holy Cross also has a diversity visiting program for applicants, and some others on your list besides the ones you already mention are likely to have them as well.

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NYU because it is located only a few blocks from wall street. You can be an intern and student simultaneously.

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“I’ll consider keeping UR but it is a southern school and could be very conservative. True?”

Wrong. Many of the kids there are from Northern Virginia (becoming a very Democratic area), and the middle Atlantic states up through NY. Virginia is no longer considered the Deep South. The City of Richmond can be somewhat conservative, (but the city is very diverse) but the University is not. It is arguably more diverse than some of the other schools on list (e.g., Villanova).

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Keep Vassar on your list. It works harder than many others to make sure to pull in a diverse group. They have several programs that attempt to make that happen. Success also depends on whether the people they reach out to also accept them. Vassar grads go on to great futures in a wide variety of fields and it is on a commuter train line (the very end of it) into NYC. The alumni network is strong and you should be able to find internships in your field. Your stats as you’ve mentioned might be a little low for Barnard, Wellesley and Vassar, but Vassar is a place where people are generally welcoming, happy, and if you are accepted its because they know you can do well there and welcome you with open arms. The depts that get the most attention on this forum for Vassar are theater, creative writing, and other arty programs. Vassar also has great sciences and strong econ and poly sci. Even if you’re the sole person in a department, it can act as a tutorial for you. Do not be afraid of taking a course of study that has few people there. I’m not exaggerating. If by senior year you are the only person in your field, you are likely to be seated with your professor working one on one getting a tutorial in your field.

If you considered Vassar and Smith, why not Mt. Holyoke and Bryn Mawr? Bryn Mawr might be a really good place for you. Although it’s a women’s school, it’s part of a coed consortium like Smith. There’s transportation between BMC, Haverford and Swarthmore, all excellent schools. Counting all three schools the size of the student population is about the same as a larger LAC and has about the same ratio of men/women. The alumni network for Bryn Mawr is strong and deep. Bryn Mawr students are relatively diverse. Also, Bryn Mawr pays for you to take the train to Philly if you want to take classes at UPenn. Bryn Mawr also close to Villanova. All of that seems appropriate for someone named @penngirlpending .

While I am one of the champions of U of Indiana on this forum, I think it’s too far away from where you want to be for securing internships on Wall Street. Carleton has produced some investment types and they do sometimes make it back to the East Coast (I’ve met a few!) but I’ve also known some that have spent their early years in the Midwest. Union is a great school and I’ve also raised its profile for a number of people. It needs women (I’m assuming you’re female because of the Smith and Barnard considerations) so you have an even greater chance of acceptance there. They may even throw a nice offer your way. You could do well there, but it does have more of a preppy frat-bro scene. Technically it has no frats but they are off campus. They still lend to its overall culture and feel from what I’ve perceived and I might be wrong. Just check that out. Vassar, Wellseley, Mt. Holyoke, Bryn Mawr, Smith don’t have frats historically. That makes a big difference IMO. Union offers great opportunity because of the folks it tends to attract and connections, but you’d have to be aware of this other side of it and decide if it’s something you want to deal with.

The women’s colleges tend to support women as leaders and their alumni networks are strong and give 100% of perceived need. (Vassar was a woman’s school before it went co-ed and still has a vibe of being supportive of women.)

The proximity-leading-to-opportunity issue: Most people outside of NYC have only heard of like maybe three schools here. Columbia/barnard, NYU and Fordham. There are several others. The schools tend to want to place their students well and even if you’re at community college here, if you’re a good student, you can get internships in firms. NYU financial aid is not good and it’s very expensive. There is also very little community feel IMO. Frankly Wall Street also recruits from Baruch (CUNY) which is not on your list and is definitely not a teensie LAC. It also doesn’t require the raw stats that other schools on your list do. Other such schools that depending on your personal performance, interest, and drive in school, can lead to Wall Street jobs, include St. Johns U in Queens, Manhattanville, Manhattan, Wagner, other CUNYs etc. Google a list of schools in NYC to see your options. The CUNY consortium of colleges has rock-bottom prices for tuition once you get residency. If you do a gap year in the City, which might be worth it as an investment and you do so in a firm or in a related field, like accounting or bookkeeping, you could gain residency. Tuition is like $6K per year about. In other words, what you’d be paying for one year tuition at another school, you could invest in a gap year in the City and get CUNY prices, get proximity to the jobs you want, will have already made connections and gotten your first internship/job under your belt before starting school, etc. Before you do this, however, you could even try for the Macaulay fellowship for free tuition and a stipend. It’s for top performers. The application deadline for Macaulay is very early. So look this up now.

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Here’s the link for Macaulay–
http://www.macaulay.cuny.edu/

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Not sure if someone already said this, but it’s Indiana university, not U of I. Not that it matters, but if you have to write an essay, you want to have it the right way.

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@Dustyfeathers I loved Vassar when I visited, but my parents were put off by the tour guide (who I loved) because he was a theater and English major and that influenced major parts of the tour. Economics and poly sci are on Vassar’s list for most popular majors but during the visit, there wasn’t much emphasis about them. Is the alumni connection that strong?

I like Bryn Mawr but removed it from my list because I felt the connection was greater to Philly rather than NYC.
The problem is my mom doesn’t want to send me to a women’s college (i.e. Barnard, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Mt. Holyoke…) but my dad is supporting my decisions. It’s troublesome.

Macaulay looks interesting because I have two more siblings so I can lift some weight off my parents when they’re paying tuition for 12 years. My mom knows relatives who went to Baruch and entered the workforce with decent jobs.
Full-time Students at Four-Year Colleges
NEW YORK STATE RESIDENTS $6,330 per year
OUT-OF-STATE RESIDENTS $16,800 per year

Do you know much about Hamilton College? I haven’t visited but from what I’ve seen online, they have an open curriculum but I don’t know how strong the alumni network is compared to Colgate’s.

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@penngirlpending right I can see why the tour guide might influence your impression of Vassar. The Vassar connection to NYC is strong and the alumni network is also strong. While you should check with the Career office for more specific questions, my distinct impression is that Vassar is robust in the field of economics. I could tell personal stories, but in general my Vassar (and my grad school) connections did get me interviews/ and jobs throughout my career and they started in NYC. Vassar does open doors. And I’ve found that the administration over the years has led the way among peer institutions in finding strong scholars who don’t necessarily have funding, and making sure that they get a Vassar education.

It is curious why your mom doesn’t support your attending a woman’s college. Maybe she’s unaware that women who graduate from women’s schools are disproportionately more likely to serve in high-level positions throughout their careers? They are more likely to be leaders in politics, in corporate settings, academia and the not-for-profit sectors, indicating a boost in leadership skills that perhaps women’s schools provided. Women’s schools nurture math, sciences and economics and computer science disproportionately in their students. Women’s schools tend to nurture a strong sense of community compared with co-ed and this sense carries into careers. 81% of graduates from women’s schools tend to go on to complete a graduate degree.

The OOS figure for Baruch is high, but if you take a gap year and offset some of the cost of that with an entry-level job, you could gain in-state status. Let’s say you take $20K and live for a year in NYC, shared apartment.$900 for a room * 12 = $10,800. That leaves $9200 to live on. You get a job to contribute to that amount and gain experience. You decide to attend Baruch the following year, and your tuition drops from $64K to $24K or by about $40K. That more than makes up for your initial investment. And you’d probably graduate debt free. Before you go this route, be sure to talk with Career services etc. at Baruch.

Sadly I know nothing about Hamilton or Colgate.

Here’s a directory of women’s colleges. I also personally also like Agnes Scott, Mills, Simmons, Russell Sage, Sweet Briar, and Scripps, all of which are quite different.

http://www.womenscolleges.org/discover/students

Here’s a guide FWIW about why some women choose women’s colleges–
http://www.womenscolleges.org/sites/default/files/report/files/main/why_a_womens_college_ebook.pdf

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You want to work on Wall Street, Baruch is an excellent option. Better placement than almost all of the “name” schools listed above.