NYU Stern ED2 + true prestige [for investment banking]

College Search & Lists
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I am considering ed2 NYU stern vs Uchi vs waiting for RD (basically every top school) after getting deferred by wharton ED.

I much prefer stern as a school, I’d rather grind networking than spend 6hr a night getting cooked by uchi rigor (although I know I can handle it if I end up having to). But for the industry I know I want to go into, which is finance specifically I-banking out of college then HF/VC, undergrad prestige is hugely important. I am also a pretty smart guy and I will be able to handle the Stern curve and be top 30% of my class especially optimizing my schedule for easy courses the first two years.

So based on all this the obvious choice seems to be Stern, but then I get to WSO (wall street oasis), which would seem to be the most accurate source for wall street info, and all of them hate stern and say its basically a decent school with a bad recruiting experience (yes they send the most but the actual placement percent is not that good and is very competitive for top seats) and zero prestige. So I am here asking… how much is the prestige gap between Stern and Uchi on wall street and beyond?

Please miss me with the prestige doesn’t matter, fit does - I will find a way to fit and have fun anywhere. And if you don’t really have knowledge in some way of this industry, just trust me that prestige and school name matter a lot.

My main question would be- what are the peers of stern in terms of prestige among employers (again not asking for raw outcome data) and is it comprable to Uchi? I know when people think of uchi they think of smart kids with intellectual interests…is the stern rep just finance hardos that couldn’t get into wharton like it seems on WSO?

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I have not attended U. Chicago. I did get my bachelor’s degree at a similarly academically challenging university (specifically MIT), and a good friend of a daughter did attend Chicago. What he said about it reminded me of my time at MIT. This is not something that you do because you think that you should nor to please someone else. This is four years of very tough classes. This is a lot of tough problem sets and tough exams. This is four years of studying alongside and competing with students who were very close to being the strongest student in their high school. At least in my opinion if you go there then you should want to do it. You do it because you are driven to do it. You do it to prove to yourself that you can. If you don’t want to do it, it can be a very long 4 years.

However, from what I have heard the people who work on Wall Street are smart and are driven. You are not going to fool them nor impress them with bluster. The hours are long. The pressure is intense. Again, this needs to be something that you do because it is in your blood.

My take on this is that you do what is right for you, and do it well. Then you find out where this takes you. Keep an open mind and something appropriate will happen.

Which brings up the question, which is the right school for you? It looks like…

… There is your answer.

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  1. You should go where you want, not where others want you to go
  2. Both will place but Chicago doesn’t have business per se - has business econ. School size drives raw placement #s but if you believe college transitions, Chicago performs better (per capita).

You don’t need to ED. You’re choosing to. Feeder wise they show Fordham is as good, if you trust their data. Good luck.

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Since you’re deferred from Wharton, which is presumably your top choice, I say don’t ED2 anywhere. Apply RD to your whole list.

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Assuming affordability, go to the school you want to attend.
No student from any college, with any GPA, activities, etc. is assured of an IB/HF/VC type job out of undergrad.

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I was also going to suggest Fordham…but if you plan to apply there, you need to hurry and send in that application!

But I agree…regular decision for the rest of your applications…you weren’t rejected from Wharton…you were deferred.

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Yeah but this is also off since with NYC the difference between their business school and rest of the school in student caliber is more than any other school (especially schools with Econ and the rest). So it’s really the 550 Stern kids plus maybe 400 other students across all schools that are competitive for high finance jobs yet for per capital the denominator used is the entire NYU class size

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If you like Stern the most out of the other schools on your list then ED2 there, assuming affordability. Note that not all Stern grads (closer to 700 than 550 each year because of transfers) will be competitive for IB jobs.

I get you value prestige because you want to go into IB, but I hope you have at least one acceptance in hand so far where you would be happy to attend and have also applied to other non-reach schools.

Think of it this way…you are targeting reach schools and then a ‘reach’ career outcome coming from the ‘prestigious’ schools which are filled with highly capable students, 50% of which will be in the bottom half of their college graduating class when they were probably in the top 5%-10% of their HS class.

At any of the IB target schools you are going to be competing with non-finance and non-econ majors for those jobs. My D was a neuroscience major and went into IB directly out of undergrad. There are plenty of humanities majors in IB as well. Many students who end up going into IB also have a direct personal connection to someone in the industry.

My point is go to a college where you want to spend four years. That doesn’t sound like Chicago. Try not to be so narrow minded on a career outcome that may never happen. Maybe you’ll be one of the gunners targeting IB from day one and an IB job will be an option upon graduation (you’ll know by mid-soph year), but, maybe you’ll be outside the top 10% of the class which will make an IB job highly unlikely (unless you have connections), or…maybe you’ll find a different path you like even more. Good luck.

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Do you mean per capita?

Not sure I understand either your logic or your math. But if you like Stern better than Chicago- there’s your answer. Reality on the ground is indeed that Chicago is typically considered “more prestigious”- but that’s because I -Banking doesn’t just hire “finance” majors. Some institutions are looking for pure math, highly theoretical physics, quantitative econ (which is not the same as finance), philosophy, etc. And for these disciplines, Chicago is a more robust hunting ground.

But since this doesn’t sound like you, it’s irrelevant. The best hedge fund hire I ever made was a geology major. He had never taken a single finance course (or even anything related to business). But he wrote his senior thesis on a complex model he had developed predicting seismic and volcanic activity, and the MD’s went NUTS over him. Who cares if the guy knew the formula for DCF? He was able to take a complex and noisy phenomenon and develop a model to better screen out the noise and focus on the 100 or so datapoints that were truly predictive. You don’t need to major in finance to realize how powerful this kid’s intellect was and how relevant it was to their business!!!

But if you want to go to Stern you should go to Stern. I-banking hiring is so volatile right now, and likely to be very different a few years from now. So predicting the future (volcanic activity OR the talent market) is very, very difficult!!!

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I didn’t create the data - but it’s a tool to look at. You should go where you want. You can google - name a flagship with investment banking linkedin - and you’ll find someone in a program - how’d they get there (contact, on their own) i don’t know - but Va Tech, Penn State, Rutgers, U Houston, Texas, A&M, Binghamton, wherever.

I didn’t tell you not to apply to Stern. I simply told you if you believe the data provided (and it’s third party), Stern wins on size but not per capita. There’s a reason schools like Bucknell and Richmond show up in the data drive career outcome reports but an NYU doesn’t.

You were trying to decide if you want to ED2 to the school you prefer vs. another (duh, of course you should - assuming the NPC works out) but were worried about the NYU curve. Well, if you’re top dog, why does the curve matter?

But then you mention Michigan - very, very different than NYU. If your reason for EDing to NYU is you prefer it (as you note), that’s good reason. If it’s just to get an earlier answer, it’s not a good reason.

You also note you applied to every top school. I don’t know what that means. But for example, Indiana is a Michigan sub, much easier in, and places in IB. Did you apply by the Nov 1 deadline.

Fordham, Babson, Bentley - you may not see them as NYU but they are nice fall backs if you don’t get into NYU. Richmond, Villanova too.

I can’t see any other threads from you so not sure your stats, etc. and I’m not sure if Penn rejects in ED or defers everyone (like Georgetown).

I think you have a plan in mind - and you are basing it on what you perceive as prestige. While prestige doesn’t bring happiness and you’ll be on campus four years, day after day after day, if that’s your goal - then I say great for you.

But no one here can assess you - we have no data but even if we did, we are not adcoms.

But if you want more feedback, you might do a chance me. But not sure you need it - you seem to have a plan and have worked that plan but maybe now are a bit concerned because of the Wharton decision. But one can’t really expect to get into Wharton - so that wouldn’t concern me on its own. And you still have a shot as you were moved to RD.

One thing I know for sure - you are not assured anything by going to a certain school. And your pursuit is not ended if you don’t get in to a certain target school. It might be a lot harder but not necessarily ended.

Have you looked at Arizona State and IBIS as a back up to your back ups?

Investment Banking Industry Scholars | ASU W. P. Carey

Best of luck.

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This.

It will keep Wharton as an option.

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I’ve been familiar with peak frameworks for a few years, and it is reliable but not the full picture since they scrape from Linkedin. Wharton specifically I think defers about 20% but that’s still not a great sign for me. I have backups (admit to penn state finance w/ honors) and also will get into at least 1 or 2 UCs, so I’m really just gunning for top schools now. I’ve also been accepted to IU Kelley last week.

I think you are wrong about the “prestige will not make you happy on a daily basis”. For me at absolutely will. It will also effect my quality of live in the next few months and this summer greatly.

For me personally, fit and what I’m actually studying don’t matter as much. I’d be happy studying econ or business, and will probably minor in math anywhere. And I can easily see myself at Michigan or NYU - I’d be happy in both places. I can make a good situation out of anything.

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Sounds like you have wonderful opportunities. Good luck.

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Are Kelley decisions out?

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They release in batches, rolling

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That’s what I thought but the Kelley admissions person had said this year Kelley will be sent it one shot and closer to Jan 15.

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If you’re in at Kelley and PSU – and you like both and they are affordable – then you’re already set.

Would you prefer to be in NYC? If so, you could apply to (at least) Columbia and Fordham in addition to Stern.

Maybe even add (somewhat) nearby Yale.

Because Wharton deferred you, I would not apply ED2 anywhere – just apply RD everywhere else.

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Delete

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Was your decision from IU Kelley Indianapolis? I have not heard of anyone hearing from IU at the Bloomington campus.

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They say this - so it’s possible -

Students who apply to Indiana University Bloomington by the early action deadline of November 1 and submit their KPI by November 15 will receive a response from IU Office of Admission regarding admission status with IU by January 15.

Has anyone checked or monitored the IU thread? I just looked - yeah, none. I suppose if interested one can reach out to the school and ask. I can’t imagine a student applying to NYU and Penn applying to the wrong IU campus but you never know I suppose.