Need advice for son interested in IB/Finance after receiving positive prereads

[UltimaCroix]

@Aimlesscat1

@UltimaCroix

Love the LACs, and some of them have good alum support on Wall St. Their “feeder” numbers certainly seem to look good on a per capita basis.

Somewhat misleading though. I wouldn’t be surprised if half the kids at Midd and other peer schools are getting their finance job/internship through a parent or a friend of a parent. It seems that way. Ask one. There will often be a pause, a sheepish laugh, and then “yah, my dad/mom basically got this for me.”

Not saying it doesn’t happen at Stern and other large schools too, but it distorts the LAC feeder numbers. It’s frequently not as simple as “they came to campus, interviewed me, invited me back, x rounds later, I got the job/internship”. The jobs can land in mysterious ways.

Why would you think that this is any different at feeder LACs relative to any of the other usual suspects? I wouldn’t expect it to be any different at Stern or Gabelli given their proximity to Wall St. I would be very surprised if the behavior at the typical Ivy differs from the LACs for kids that look the same.

I know a bunch of recent kids with excellent Finance success from schools fitting all of these profiles. I do think that there are real differences that people might want to consider when it comes to the LACs and Finance recruiting, the biggest one being the athletic component. It really does seem to open many doors. The top LACs have constant events and onsite recruiting like other feeder schools but another thing that they have is alumni who are very active in support. I know coaches with contact lists for their athletes looking at Consulting, Finance, Medicine, Law, etc. Very successful people who are actively looking to help.

I did say, “Not saying it doesn’t happen at Stern and other large schools too”.

We had a kid at an elite undergrad business school, and another at a top LAC. Both finance kids. LAC athletes at least “seemed” to do better at selective finance recruitment than other non-athletes at their LAC, and these athletes often had a recruitment connection. Sometimes it is merely from alum-boosting, but quite often it is from a highly-placed family connection. Non-athletes seemed to have a more level playing field at the undergrad business school.

I’ve interviewed hundreds of analyst candidates at one of the most sought after IBs, and most of the time, the LAC kids we hired were either relationship connected, or athletes, or both. (However, this was also many years ago.)

[circuitrider]

The athlete connection is not all that well kept a secret. The NESCAC schools are pretty up front about it and at Wesleyan there’s even a fraternity that celebrates it.