<p>sure it does matter where you go because not every school gets recruited by top banks and financial firms. I can confidently tell you if you want to get a respected full-time position as a trader, banker, head analyst etc… with the likes of Goldman, CSFB, Citigroup or some other boutique bank like Lazard, Blackstone etc. you better have an unbelievable gpa from a mediocre school because you will have competition from the likes of Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and top 10 institutions. Oh yeah another thing if the Yaley or top 10 school candidate has those internships (Which is likely due to the noteriety of their school), mediocre gpa (3.2-3.6) and good recommendations they will get the job over someone from the likes of Babson or Bentley who has a roughly 3.5-3.7 but might be lacking those internships because of the lack of noterity of their school. However, if you have connections into a few of these banks/financial firms and you end up getting internships and do well in school with above a 3.7 you have a very high chance of getting hired by a bank.</p>
<p>Firms don’t generally recruit for traders from non Top 25 schools unless you are someone really special. For example if you have a 4.0 with many amazing internships among other things to show for. </p>
<p>Think about what a trader does and why they get paid so much money for doing what they do. Traders handle a firms money and hopefully make a profit on their initial investment. You can’t have mediocre people making these types of decisions because the company can fall. Traders are also responsible for taking money from other companies that have invested their money with the likes of Goldman etc… and making a profit for those respective companies. I’m sure companies will not be happy if they are losing money in their account with Goldman which you are supposed to make a profit on.</p>
<p>Now I hope you get the picture…</p>