Best colleges for a future in Wall Street?

Assuming you can’t attend an elite school, then if you want to work on Wall Street (and by that I assume you mean NYC), then the closer you get in proximity, the better your chances.

NYU, ED would be my suggestion. I worked on Wall Street for a dozen years, and was amazed how NYU folks were literally everywhere…

As you noted, maybe that’s just not possible. My next suggestion would be the big 10 schools in the east…Rutgers, Penn State, and Maryland. When the Big 4 and larger consulting firms go looking for staff, they go to places where they can recruit dozens of people at a time, not one or two. Between DC, Philly, and NY…they have a good number of internships and first-year jobs to fill.

As important as your education, you should focus on internships from the start of college. Do something first-year year, even if it’s for a lesser-known place. It will help you get an internship for the years that really matter…junior/senior. The major consulting firms rarely hire first-year grads that weren’t interns, you have to get an intership if you have much hope of going to Wall Street out of school.

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