Better college for Investment Banking program

Mastadon
Tue, 01 Mar 2016 16:33:26 +0000

You will maximize your probability of success by enrolling in a program that :

1. Develops strong communication skills

2. Develops strong quantitative skills ideally applied in the context of finance and economics

3. Develops a global perspective by understanding cultures other than your own

4. Develops strong networking skills

5. Is close to major global financial centers

Here is a list of major global financial centers. - Note that Chicago is a major center for commodities/derivatives - which may or may not be of interest for you.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Financial_Centres_Index

You can probably achieve this anywhere, but at the large universities, I would be concerned about the extent to which you can straddle the boundary between the liberal arts domain and the business domain.

U Texas does have a program that allows non- business students to take business classes, but I do not know about the others.
http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/Business-Foundations.aspx

Babson is pretty unique. It is like a “Business LAC”. It has a liberal arts core, (which includes two semesters of Rhetoric), a business core and some interdisciplinary concentrations such as Computational and Mathematical Finance

http://www.babson.edu/Academics/undergraduate/concentrations/Pages/default.aspx

Babson has traditionally been known for entrepreneurship, but more recently, Babson alums have been building a more of a bridge to Finance careers and Wall St.

http://www.babsonibassociation.com/about/

On the cost side, Babson is an interesting combination because it is need blind, meets almost full need (95%+), is pretty good on the amount of loans included in the package and also offers merit scholarships.

If you are comfortable with a small school environment, and you can get in and afford it, then I would lean toward Babson.