My son has applied to several schools and is (as of now) thinking of going into investment banking. He has been accepted into Ball State (honors college), Depauw (I have a daughter that goes there) and Purdue. He hasn’t gotten his decision yet from IU Kelley but he’s a direct admit with 1450 SAT and 3.95 (I think…his only B was freshman Spanish, so whatever that GPA is). He also took every AP class he could (which was quite a few) and got two 5’s and the rest 4’s on the AP tests. He has already sent in his application to Notre Dame but still needs to finish the financial/College Board application.
Financially, he would be in-state at IU Kelley while Notre Dame would be quite a bit more expensive without taking any scholarships into consideration. We do have two 529’s that would help fairly substantially towards the cost.
My question is: If he were to go into investment banking or other related finance major (and he hypothetically gets accepted into Notre Dame), is it worth the extra cost to him or me to go that route? Does the “prestige” of Notre Dame as an institution outweigh an education at IU Kelley or one of the others?
TIA
Did he submit his IU app in the EA round? If so, IU Kelley is a safety for him because he meets the direct admit criteria.
Generally, I’m not a fan of weighing options until those options are in hand.
Getting in to investment banking requires good grades, relevant activities, and networking. A lot of networking starting first year. There is no school that will provide opportunities for students…the students have to be actively seeking them out.
Plenty of Kelley students end up in IB, many more end up in other terrific finance related jobs. At the point your S does have a choice, then he has to think about the college vibe he wants. IU Kelley is large (~10K students) and competitive. Competitive for grades, competitive for clubs.
Notre Dame has an exceptionally proud and engaged alumni with historic ties to IB. Kelley is highly regarded and gaining traction as a “target” school but doesn’t have the depth or history of alumni network.
In my opinion all things being equal ND may have some small advantages but a strong Kelley student will negate any differences and have the same opportunities. Going to either school is a very viable path to an IB analyst role in today’s market.
Is there a specific area of IB that is of interest. I ask because you do tend to see a lot of ND alum in some of the sales and trade areas.
Good luck as he gets results and happy to try and answer any other questions.
FYI he will likely not need an MBA post grad from either program assuming he pursues a relevant and rigorous curriculum at either school. He may consider CFA but we are getting ahead of ourselves.
Thanks so much, Catcherinthetoast! Right now the “flavor of the month” is investment banking but that can surely change. His acceptance into ND is also hypothetical but he has a puncher’s chance. I really appreciate the reply and it gives me some good insight.
One thing to note is that Mendoza is less than 1/5 the size of Kelley. Not sure about class size but - just like IU is much bigger overall, the IU program is much larger. Not sure if that matters to your student - whether they want a larger or smaller school (but not small).
And getting into a specific college is no assurance of a specific career. Just like not going to a specific college doesn’t mean that the door is entirely shut.
Over four years, sans scholarship at either school, the delta is well over $200k - which you may or may not be able to or desire to afford.
I also think both schools reputations, geographic footprints and alumni networks would allow your student optionality to successfully pivot to other similarly competitive business careers. As mentioned an MBA would likely not be particularly beneficial or required down the road from either undergraduate program so a nice opportunity and tuition cost saver for going to a premier school up front.
Not sure why the issue of whether or not one will need an MBA arose, but since it did the answer is it depends.
Consider the typical or average length of stay for recent college graduates in IB. If your son prefers to switch industries, then an MBA from a top program may be a wise investment after working for a few years.
I’d add that when people look at target schools - like college rankings - they are not all the same nor do they highlight the same schools. We all seem to act like certain rankings are the ‘authority’ when the reality may or may not differ.
Neither IU or UND shows up on the first list. On the second, one is 10 and the other 14 - so likely immaterial overall although different organizations may target each.
I raised the MBA point in response to the OPs IB career ambition and sensitivity to total cost. OP was considering two schools that have strong business credentials, and I was assuring them that neither would require an incremental advanced degree to progress through the typical IB advancement path of analyst-associate-VP- Director-MD. This is not the case with some schools and or concentrations.
In terms of the often debated target school discussion, I will simply state unequivocally based on my first hand experience that both Kelley and Mendoza are highly thought of and recruited from as targets for IB.
Last year’s summer analyst class of 50+ at the CIB I manage had candidates from both schools. We actively measure and calibrate our recruiting efforts (via consultants) versus the other top 25 IB recruiters of talent and both ND and Kelley frequently show up.
Once again this is not a product of using Google sourced rankings but is instead based on first hand real time experience juxtaposed against 30+ years experience corroborated by an extremely experienced HR talent team.
I won’t speak in absolutes, but one of the great things about starting a career in IB is the foundational nature of the skill set it teaches. Most analyst programs include formal modeling, credit and financial accounting training. The actual responsibilities of an analyst also instill a familiarity with numerous other business disciplines.
Depending upon the specific area in which the junior banker is deployed they will often gain specific non banking industry expertise.
For most “arm’s length” (PE, HF, Financial Sponsor, etc) career pivots, no MBA is required and the numbers of those returning to school is dwindling. For many other (if not most), careers the combination of an undergraduate business degree along with IB training and perhaps CFA are more than adequate to pivot.
Obviously exceptions exist if going into a totally unrelated area but those exceptions are becoming farther and fewer between in my experience. I don’t see a lot of I bankers going back for MBAs while I do see a lot of undergraduates (primarily from non target schools) extending their college experiences by a year to get an advanced degree in the hope of improving their job prospects.
For purposes of this thread and this OP either school will likely prepare your child for an IB career and likely limit their needing an MBA down the road if their ambitions change.
Notre Dame has very generous financial aid. No help for full pay students.
If we lived in Indiana, then our kids would go to Purdue for engineering and IU for business. These two universities offer the best value for engineering and business. The value is off the charts for in-state students.
Purdue is a wonderful and highly respected school. Unfortunately in regard to IB it doesn’t however carry the same reputation, history or alumni network as the other schools you previously mentioned. Just as Wharton or Stern aren’t great feeders into engineering roles😀
Once he has all of his options in, I am happy to offer any insights that might support the eventual decision if IB remains the eventual goal.
I’m not in this field. But my opinion…until this student has acceptances in hand, it’s pretty premature to discuss the pluses of any one over the other.
Of course, people have IB careers from IU Kelley. Of course, not everyone who attends ND can have a career in IB. People bring things like this up as if it is a surprise to you, which it likely isn’t.
Your child has one life. One shot at all of this. If you have the means to pay for it without taking on debt, send them to ND.